The Law and Economics of Lust, Love and Life

STATEMENT ON THE DECEMBER 15, 2006 INCIDENT AT MALCOLM HALL

LAW STUDENT GOVERNMENT
UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES COLLEGE OF LAW

STATEMENT ON THE DECEMBER 15, 2006 INCIDENT AT MALCOLM HALL

Last December 15, 2006, a group of UP students with strong anti-tuition fee
increase sentiments, barged through the doors of Malcolm Hall, in search of
members of the University of the Philippines Board of Regents. The group was
headed by the Student Regent, and the University Student Council. Such
students verbally assaulted members of the UP Law Student Government and the
UP Law community who were at that time peacefully preparing for "Malcolm
Madness", the College's Christmas program. In the attempt to find the
regents, these students harassed practically everyone who was foreign to
them including the UP Law Center staff, the UP Law Personnel and fellow UP
students. They were hurling accusations such as, "Tinatago n'yo sila!"
"Niloko n'yo kami!" "Bakit n'yo kami pinagtatagksilan? !" at the members UP
Law community who were in sight. During the height of turmoil, a student of
the College was pushed to the door of the Malcolm Theater in her attempt to
ward off the rallyists from entering the Theater, wherein there were
students preparing for the College program; a handful of other students were
likewise emotionally traumatized. It was only after a five-minute, initially
adversarial dialogue between the Student Regent and the Law Student
Government President that the angry crowd was asked by their leaders to turn
around and leave. Unfortunately, however, the injury had already been
inflicted. Aside from emotional and physical injuries, the mob ultimately
left the college with property damaged, specifically the door of Malcolm
Hall and the Malcolm driveway was splashed with red paint. Furthermore, the
"Malcolm Madness" was cancelled for the first time since its inception,
causing losses for equipment rentals and decoration costs on the part of the
UP Law students and the UP Law Student Government.

It is understandable that these students may have had strong sentiments
against the Tuition Fee Increase issue. After all, they are entitled to
express their vehement objections to the Board of Regents in accordance with
their constitutional right to free speech and expression. However such forms
of expression are never justifications to trample on others' rights to
safety of their persons and property.

Thus, it is with a heavy heart that we, the Law Student Government, condemn
this chaotic incident initiated by our fellow UP students. We believe that
their acts have crossed the borderline of freedom of expression as it
tramples on propriety, ethics and any notion of reason. We have no choice
but to respond accordingly - as of all institutions, the UP College of Law
and the UP Law student Government will not tolerate exploits of such kind.
In verbally and physically hurting other people and destroying property,
these acts are no less than criminal.

We hold the Student Regent responsible for inciting this mob and leading it
into our college with no sense of direction or restraint according to the
purpose by which it was gathered. We implead him primarily for being the
proximate cause of the incident, without regard for those who do not share
his agenda.

We hold the members of the University Student Council responsible, most
especially the USC Chair, according to the principle of command
responsibility. The Chair was not present during the incident; the members
of the USC who were in attendance did nothing to pacify the crowd during the
height of chaos. We deem that they should have reasonably anticipated such
consequences when a group of extremely emotionally charged individuals
rally: chaos will definitely result from the mob rule - despite lack of
premeditated ill intentions to inflict harm on others.

As veterans of mass action protests, the Student Regent and the University
Student Council should have foreseen harmful results and consequently
formulated and implemented proactive safeguards to avoid or minimize them.
The damages caused by these acts of omission were not rectified by belated
measures to make the crowd turn back. Such conduct of the USC betrays the
very office that they occupy. Beyond advocacies, the primary accountability
of the USC belongs to the UP populace, whose safety, welfare and well-being
they ought to have upheld - whichever side of the fence the constituent-
students sit in an issue.

We, too, in the UP Law Student Government, are scholars of the people. Like
every UP Student, we are being educated to become productive members of
society who are reflective of the ideals of the nation. We believe that the
UP student has brilliant ideas and opinions, which have to be voiced out in
a reasonable manner. Thus do we champion the spirit of activism, one of the
forces for which our University is distinctly renowned. It is in this spirit
that we, ourselves, participate in various rallies, fora and social action
in the midst of various issues of public interest. Yet, we condemn riotous
and anarchical modes of activism. No matter how noble the purpose or ends of
a rally, mutinous styles of mass action will NEVER be justified, especially
when they infringe on others' safety of their persons and property. Though
we, ourselves, are activists in our own right, we will never allow activism
to cast a dark shadow on the conduct and character of the UP students.

We, in the UP College of Law, denounce the December 15, 2006 incident in
Malcolm Hall. We deem that it is only just and equitable that those at its
helm be held responsible for its outcome. We condemn all types and kinds of
abuses of the spirit of activism, which has been enshrined in the history of
our university. Relentlessly, we will cling to our bias for order, propriety
and the rule of law.

Di Kami Lasing...

... tipsy lang.

Went to The Fort last night until the wee hours of the morning to celebrate the start of our "Christmas Vacation".

My Law school barkada otherwise known as DuhPerm was sort of complete with a few new Drinking buddies. Ok, Roll Call: Euns, Shem, Rica, Yvie, JV, Mel, Juancho, Ana, David, Pepe, Kiboy, Haze, Elliot, Rachelle, Ces, Kiko, Becky, Chris, Anton, Patty... Much Love Guys!!!!

Koko, Lew at Carlo... Boo! =P Namiss namin kayo a.

Our first plan was to spend the night at CocoCabana but it was jampacked and we felt like it was hopeless and futile to wait for the people to leave. So, we went to The Fort instead and tried our luck at Pier One. Ang masasabi ko lang... Haha. Luck my ass. We still waited for a looong time before we got a table, but I don't regret going there naman. I had fun.

We bumped din into other law students at The Fort and a lot of kwentuhans later, we FINALLY STARTED THE HIGHLY-ANTICIPATED DRINKING SESSION. Because I vowed, we all vowed not to talk about what "transpired" and "got revealed" during Kiboy's "15 Questions Game", I will not divulge any incriminating facts about the people who were game enough to answer the VERY CONTROVERSIAL QUESTIONS. *Winks at Patty, Ces, Chris, Elliot, Anton, Juancho, Kiko, Becky, Mel, Haze and Rach. Kaya TAP-OUT ako jan. hehe.

May mga nagkahamunan mag-holding hands, may mga nagkahamunan mag-date, may nagkahamunan lang basta... may nagkakadevelopan, may nag-break at nakamove on, may "nag-footsie", nag-PDA, nag-hug at kung anu-ano pa. Bahala na kayo. Basta, sobrang eventful ng inuman na'to.

Thanks Yvie for the wonderful pashmina shawls [tama ba un spelling ng pashmina?]. You're welcome Pepe. Carlo, BOOOOO! =P

Then we went to Starbucks a li'l tipsy, a li'l happier, a li'l excited... itinuloy ang kwentuhan at nag-uwian na may mga ngiti sa mga labi.

MERRY CHRISTMAS GUYS!!!!

Boyet, Maria, Alexis, Ula, T.E. ... Para Sa'yo.

ALEXIS na BRUSKONg-BRUSKO

jersee_d_goddess : pinapadepress mo ko bigla ha. [mali yata un tagalog na un] pinapa-depress? may ganun ba?
elliotdemanila : tila pinu-puno kita ng pighati
jersee_d_goddess : hahaha..babalik nanaman ba tayo sa tagalog? mahilig ka sa ganyan. "makata".
elliotdemanila : Then I beseech you to utilize your grasp of the English language
jersee_d_goddess : gawd. Language-swings. kaw lang may ganung topak a.
elliotdemanila : Preferez-vous la langue Francais?
jersee_d_goddess : Fine, fine. I get your point. You're Multilingual... Show-off!
elliotdemanila : hinde. nakuha ko lang communication skills ko kakapanood ng Ana Luna at Eat Bulaga noong bata pa ako. At ngayon, sa The Buzz nalang ako kumukuha ng pointers.
jersee_d_goddess : Haha, speaking of Ana Luna.. alam mo ba, dati akala ko ako si Eunice [un kontrabida] kasi Elvie din pangalan nun mom ko.. so, i got carried aawy at sinabihan ko un yaya ko na.. "Sampid ka lang dito!" gaga no?
elliotdemanila : Dapat di mo na kinwento sakin yan. patay ka sakin bukas
jersee_d_goddess : haha.. siraulo. pagbaabayaran ko ba ang mga kakontrabidahan ko?
elliotdemanila : alam mo naman na ikaw lang ang eula valdes ng buhay ko
jersee_d_goddess : shit. salamt Elliot. im soo honored. eula eh no.
elliotdemanila : at ako naman si claudine, kaya sakin ang huling halak-hak. grabe ang jologs ko.
jersee_d_goddess: di sakin nanggaling yan.
jersee_d_goddess : pero teka, si Kristine Hermosa ka.. tapos si Jean Garcia ako..un ang mas tama
elliotdemanila: pwede bang rico yan nalang? puro babae nababangit dito!
elliotdemanila : ...on second thought, jericho rosales nalang. nasa langit na pala si rico.
jersee_d_goddess: hahaha.. Fine, fine fine. pero di na ako kontrabida nun, anak na kita.
elliotdemanila : o di ikaw nalang si puma lay-ar at ako si alexis/shaider
jersee_d_goddess : bwahahaha... tumutugtog sa isip ko un shigi shigi
elliotdemanila : o siya, papanik na ako sa babilos at ako'y matutulog na. baka magalit si ani.
jersee_d_goddess : night.

---------------------------
MAKATANG BOYET

elliotdemanila : Magandang gabi. May pasok ba bukas sa PIL or submission lang ng digests? And kailangan ba i-print yung digests?
jersee_d_goddess : may pasok sa PIL. at oo kailangan iprint ang digest.
jersee_d_goddess : didnt u get the text message?
elliotdemanila : Hindi po namin natangap ang mga mensahe. Akala ko pa naman at walang pampublikong batas pangkalawakan bukas. Inubos ng mga kaso ang oras ko. Maraming salamat sa iyong pagtitiwala
jersee_d_goddess : walang anuman, nawa'y tuluyan kang naliwanagan sa mga agam-agam na naglalaro sa iyong isipan. Magandang gabi...
elliotdemanila : Magandang gabi rin at sana'y sing tamis ng mansanas ni eba ang iyong mga panaginip

-----------------------
MARIA, The Diamond Star

Pero ang pinakamatindi sa lahat ay ang pagwa-walkout ni Maria sa kanyang self-produced episode ng Maricel Drama Special nang sinubukan namin na pakantahin sya sa Christmas Party.

All I Want For Christmas is... este, ARE...

Attention GIFT-GIVERS!

Peace of Mind (priceless)
Contentment (priceless)
Sex and the City Trivia Game (P1000+)
Human Warmth (priceless)
Any Metallic BIG Bag.
Ateneo Law Jacket (1000+)
Tarot Cards. Tarot decks vary from the more traditional Rider Waite pack, to the more eclectic such as The Egyptian Tarot, The Buddha Tarot, The Celtic Tarot, and Gothic Tarot of Vampires.
really cute pair of wedge [size 9]
bean bag (600+?)
contact lens [hazel, brown... wag lang blue] 100 ang grado... (600+)
white pumps (size 9) 300 - 500 lang sa Fashion Market (Market Market!)
Pashmina shawl GOT IT! Thanks Yvie...
Summit Media : Who Stole My Magic? by Jenny Manuel,Between Dinner and the Morning After by Tara FT Sering,No Boyfriend Since Birth by Claire Betita [150 each]
Aviator Shades from People are People
Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner
Nicole Krauss's eccentric and haunting second novel, The History of Love
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
On Beauty by Zadie Smith
Veronica by Mary Gaitskill

Gazillions of Toffee Nut Latte's Later

Just got home from Simbang Gabi with Leida.

A li'l earlier:
Just got home from a refreshing nightout with my high school barkada.

Realized that all of 'em managed to lose weight which completely emphasized my "contradictory" situation of successfully gaining weight while claiming to be the "most stressed one" thanks to law school.

Survived JC's kaasar-to-death question, "Anong nangyari sayo?" sabay attempting to pinch me in a "stuffed-toy"-like manner by bullying him into buying my nth cup of Toffee Nut Latte for the day and killing him through guilt for showing up late and having the nerve to be the earliest one to leave.

Planned a highly-anticipated Christmas get-together with the highlight game of BASAGAN NG PALAYOK as suggested by Mirla.

Made fun of Ahyen after she suggested that we come up with NAUGHTY PARLOR GAMES by reminding her that we all are CLOOOOSE friends and that NAUGHTY GAMES are for people who look at each other as romantic prospects. Friends who are like brothers and sisters don't play "BASAGAN NG ITLOG". They just don't. It's a rule.

Teeny weeny bit earlier:

Met up with Chubs after he "got drunk" at his law school's Christmas Party in Shang. Made him promise an INUMAN SESSION with him as the "TAYA".

Much earlier:
Just came from a "tambay session" with Ces and Carlo...

Much, much earlier:
I got called to recite for my Criminal Law class, crossed my fingers and "charmed" [or at least TRIED TO CHARM] my way through it.

Sooper dooooper earlier:
I had a blast hosting the Ateneo School of Law Staff Christmas Party. I am now a celebrity amongst the staff. Saya.

EVENTFUL DAY? understatement.

Ano ba tayo?

Sirit na 'ko.

Joke ba un?

nag-Knock, knock ka ba?

Ang tagal naman ng punchline. Wag naman PUNCH lang.

Sige kahit na knock-knock pa lang... SIRIT na'ko.

The Lantern Parade became a Charade.

It's depressing.

Ilang words? Ilang syllables? English ba o Tagalog?

Just like a charade, people act out what they think is the best rendition or representation of the object that has to be guessed or interpreted by a TEAM MATE. The problem is, we perceive things differently. That's the beauty of the mind. The UP Students and the Board of Regents are supposed to be teammates.

Minsan nga lang nagkakapikunan din ang magkakagrupo. Pare-pareho man na gustong makatulong sa UP, iba-iba nga lang ng paraan na naiisip.

Poor students, poor excited Lantern Parade ex-spectators. Poor UP.

CMO Christmas Party

... Unbreak My Heart is my "NEW VIDEOKE SONG" just because I'm through with being Jaya. =P
... FAME never fails to make everyone sing.
... All CMOers are currently broken-hearted. Or at least all those who got hold of the Magic Sing are either broken-hearted OR hopeless romantics. Either way we scream CHEESY.
... Killing Me Softly + Dancing = Confusion
... I therefore conclude that I LOVE PARTIES. Christmas Parties. Christmas Parties with Magic Sing.
... It is a bad idea to sing "Darna" in front of people you don't know. They often wonder why the hell you're in law school because you know a Janine Desiderio song. Haha. And yes, "Darna" is the Tagalog version of "Superwoman". And FYI, Kamikazee's song is NARDA. Just in case you got it all mixed up.

I Think I'm Going to the Ball...

Just because I miss being in high school. I miss dressing up. I miss dancing. I miss having clean fun. I miss being carefree. I miss my fairytales. I miss my prince charming. Wait. I dont have a prince charming. Fine. I miss dreaming of a prince charming.

I miss being a "Miss".

---
image from POST SECRET

Man and Woman

Warren sent me an sms with this wonderful message and i felt compelled to share it to everyone 'coz i luuuuurve it. Thanks Chubs. =P

Man is the most elevated of all creatures; woman is the most sublime of all ideals.
God made for man a throne; for woman, an altar.
The throne exalts; the alter sanctifies.
Man is the brain, woman, the heart.
The brain enlightens; the heart loves.
Light illimunates; love revives.
Man is the genius; woman, an angel. Genius is immeasurable. An angel is undefinable. A genius contemplates the infinite; an angel attains the unattainable.
The aspiration of man is supreme glory, the aspiration of woman is extreme virtue. To obtain glory, man does what is grand, to acquire virtrue, woman does what is divine.
Man has supremacy; woman the preference. Supremacy signifies strength; preference represents right.
Man is the symbol of heroism; woman, of martyrdom. Heroism ennobles; martyrdom sublimates.
Man is the code; woman, the gospel. The code corrects; the gospel perfects.
Man is the temple; woman, the sacrarium. To the temple, we reveal; to the sacrarium, we kneel.
Man thinks, woman dreams. To think is to recollect the past or to reason the present; to dream is to anticipate the future.
Man is the lake; woman, the ocean. The lake contains the poetry that dazzles; the ocean contains the pearl that beautifies.
Man is the eagle that flies; woman is the lark that sings. To fly is to dominate the space; to sing is to conquer the soul.
Man pursues the goal of conscience; woman follows the star of hope. Conscience guides; hope preserves.
Lastly, man is placed where earth ends; woman is placed where heaven begins.

Victor Hugo

‘Trapo’-like spins on UP tuition hikes

GET REAL
‘Trapo’-like spins on UP tuition hikes
By Solita Collas-Monsod
Inquirer

Published on Page A12 of the November 25, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

IT IS neither accurate nor fair to associate all students of the University of the Philippines (UP) with the so-called boycott of classes that was supposed to have taken place this past Thursday in protest of proposed tuition and other fee increases. What is accurate to say is that there was no boycott, or the boycott attempt failed. Why can one say this? According to information from all the colleges on campus, the classes proceeded as usual -- none were cancelled for lack of attendance. And this was buttressed by my own personal experience -- I teach two lecture classes on Thursdays, held in an auditorium because of the large class-size, and both were well attended. Definitely, there was no diminution of attendance that would spell “boycott.”

What is accurate to say is that what occurred was a rally/demonstration, attended by anywhere from 200 to 400 people (whether they were all from the UP community, one could not be certain; neither was it certain whether the students at the rally were all UP students), per eyeball estimate. One cannot really tell from the pictures because they were all “tight” shots -- almost close-up, giving the viewer no idea of the magnitude of the crowd. Which is in itself a dead giveaway, because if the crowd was large, the pictures taken would have been panoramic.

Moreover, as anyone familiar with the Diliman campus knows, these rallies/demonstrations are commonplace, and are generally organized by the same groups. Nevertheless, in the spirit of academic freedom and freedom of speech, they are allowed, defended, and even encouraged by the UP authorities. In effect, a rally of that size is no big deal.

A logical question would be: Why were there relatively few participants (considering that there are more than 25,000 students on campus, not to mention about the 1,500 faculty and 2,200 other staff)? One reason for this could be that, in the main, the students were indifferent -- probably because they will not be affected by any tuition fee increase, since this will only be imposed on incoming freshmen. The principle underlying this is that there is an implicit contract with students who had entered under a particular tuition fee structure that the structure would remain unchanged until they finished their studies. Doing otherwise would be like perpetrating a hold-up on their families, who would have very little choice other than to pay, because it is difficult to change schools.

But another reason -- which is not considered by many because of the perception that everyone in UP is a leftist/radical -- is that the students, studied, with no preconceived notions, the De Dios Committee recommendations (the report was released over four months ago) and found them reasonable. They refused to be carried away by the slogans and buzzwords that they were being inundated with.

A stretch? I don’t think so. In my years on the faculty, I have found that UP students, for the most part, have more important priorities than to wave banners, throw eggs, or scream epithets. But the latter is the kind of behavior that gets the publicity, and gives rise to the perception (including, that of Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, who should know better), that UP is a waste of public money.

Everyone has a right to his own opinion, of course. I do not quarrel with that. What I find disturbing, however, is a certain similarity between some campus leaders and their national counterparts: the tendency to take liberties with the truth. Putting their own spin, as it were the facts, until they are unrecognizable. The youth hate the “trapo” [traditional politicians] for doing it, but they seem to have no problems doing it themselves, if it helps their cause.

Take for example (if newspaper accounts are accurate) one UP student leader quoted as saying: “Can you imagine? From P6,000, you’ll suddenly have to shell out P18,000 a semester?” This young man must have known (unless he didn’t do his homework, in which case he is even more like his adult political counterparts), that only (incoming) freshmen whose annual family income is more than P500,000 a year -- i.e., those belonging to the top 5 percent of families in terms of income -- will have to pay that amount. Since it would be silly to waste his sympathy on them, or on those who will have to pay P30,000 a semester because their family annual income is over P1 million, he makes it appear as if all students have to pay that much.

Not content with that, he then expresses his concern that more and more indigent students would not be able to get into UP for the simple reason that they could not afford it. Excuse me? Again, he completely ignores (or just as bad, is ignorant of) the Student Tuition and Financial Assistance Program of UP. Under this, the poorest students are not only exempted from paying the tuition and other fees, they are also given stipends of P12,000 every semester. As I mentioned in last week’s column, even the not-so poor (with incomes of P70,001 to P135,000 a year) will not experience a tuition fee increase at all, because they will be given a 70 percent discount from the new fees. In other words, UP is definitely taking care of its poor but (intellectually) deserving students -- it has been doing so since 1989.

Intellectual dishonesty or incompetence has contributed to the nightmare that is Philippine governance. That it has started in one so young, an “iskolar ng bayan” [people’s scholar], and a possible future leader of the country, is a shame.

----
i guess it's obvious that I agree with what's in this article. It's about time that the "silent majority" be represented by a not-so-silent smart woman, thank you very much.