Marlon’s World

The latest pronouncement of the Philippine Secretary of Justice Raul Gonzales, this time against the University of the Philippines (UP), makes me wonder if he would ever learn his lesson. Previously the good secretary said that Corazon Aquino should mind the love life of her daughter Kris instead of calling for the resignation of Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. This statement is a certainly a non-sequitur and it makes me wonder all the more if indeed Mr. Gonzales had finished a degree in law.

Is it to say, therefore, that the President should resign now so that she could look for a suitable husband for daughter Luli Arroyo? Does it also follow that no person should be allowed to have an opinion or assume public office if he has a wayward relative? People from all camps unanimously cried foul over this matter.

Then, as if it were not enough, Secretary Gonzales now attacks UP. He said that the UP Charter should be reexamined since the State University now seems to be a breeding ground for anti-government sentiments and that majority of UP students are rich kids. He also said that it is alarming that UP students go against the government, its financier.

Three simple points, Mr. Gonzales:

First point, for the longest time, the UP Administration has been calling for the revision of the UP Charter to make it at par with those of other state universities across the region. Actually, the move to revise it was put on hold some time ago when Dr. Francisco Nemenzo was still UP President. You didn’t have to remind us that it needs to be changed.

Second point, it seems a bit disconcerting that the Secretary of Justice thinks that UP students are mostly rich. Have you been to UP lately, Sir? Yes, the parking lots teem with cars but the UP students are not only those that study in Diliman. Students who work in Katipunan and Commonwealth restaurants are UP students also. Students who participate in research studies as interviewers and transcribers to earn their allowance are UP students also. Students who borrow money from UP faculty and staff during enrolment are UP students also. Students who study in the far-flung campuses of the university are UP students also. Students who fail their classes because they work at night are UP students also. Such assertion that UP students are rich students – while may be partially true – glosses over the fact that students of the State University are selected through a competitive exam and the number of qualifiers is reduced every year because of the budget cut.

Third and the most important point, it is very foolish to remind UP students who pays for their tuition. We very well know who does and mind you, Mr. Gonzales, it is not the GMA Administration (as you wrongly suggested). And for that matter, it is not any previous or future administration. The people of the Republic of the Philippines pay for our tuition, and all gratitude is owed to the Philippine taxpayers and to the nation they help build. With the mindset that state colleges and universities owe their existence to the Administration, the Secretary of Justice has demonstrated a very painful and sad reality among the leaders of our government today: that all along they subscribe to the foolishly twisted notion that power emanates from the political leadership of the day and not from the sovereign people.

You are treading on dangerous grounds, Mr. Secretary. I am very sure that all Iskolar ng Bayan, past, present and future, will speak out against any form of curtailment of the liberties enjoyed presently by the University of the Philippines. After all, the varsity slogan “UP Fight!” isn’t there for nothing.

Perhaps one of my greatest fears is that no one would come to my wake to remember me when I die. Another is the possibility that when some people did visit me, they would deliver eulogies so revealing that they’re blasphemous, or so staid that they’re not eulogies at all.

I have gone to two wakes within a period of three weeks. While there are always a queue of people who signed up for the afterlife in whichever place, what struck me the most in these two wakes were the people inside the coffin… boys exactly my age. Death always gives off a numbing sensation. But what sets these deaths apart from the rest is the fact that they leave a sour taste in the mouth afterwards, a feeling summed up by words such as, “Ang bata pa niya,” “Sayang naman,” “Hindi namin inaasahan.”

As the world would have it, young people are not expected to die early. And when they do, everyone almost always feels a profound sense of loss, of possibilities unrealized, of potentials surrendered to mortality. Why, these guys could have invented the cure for AIDS or improved the economy! Picture this alongside a country teeming with thieves in uniforms and old people that did not learn much conduct and character, and you will see how fate can sometimes be so unfair.

But, for all its worth, dying young is a sharp blade that cuts through our desensitized idealisms. It makes us recognize all the more the magic that is life – that no matter how prepared or well-placed we have been, the bare earth where titles, politicking, money, and possessions are as good as the worms that feed on our body, will someday claim us. And in that silent world of decay, age doesn’t really have any relevance at all.

J.D. and G.E., descansen en paz. ¡Hasta luego!