Iba't-ibang Sagot ng Kabataan sa Krisis

We were off to pay a High School friend of mine a visit this afternoon when a unexpected thing happened. We were to drop at the Partas sub-station at San Fernando City, La Union before going to my friends house. Para makatipid ng pamasahe naglalakad lang kami, when suddenly, we saw Julius who we first met last national election campaigns for Kabataan Party and in fact he is member of Kabataan Party. We were supposed to only exchange numbers with him but he pulled us upstairs. We did not know what to expect, but knowing him as a young business-minded person, we expected that i got to be somewhat related to one of his endeavors of making money.

We were surprised to find ourselves in a casually nice office of UNO, a networking/pyramiding? company of some sorts. For politeness' sake, we stayed to listen to the lecture - an orientation of their products and how the business works. Possibly you are somewhat aware of how it works - you join them via a contract and an investment of P7,400 and pledged yourself to recruit more of you. In doing so, you make money, they make money, all of the company makes money. According to them as much as P140,000 a month or a week (or was it 240,000?). Of course, you also will have to sell their products, etc.

I would have joined them if not for the P7,400 investment.

What struck me most is almost all of the people who are there for the seminar and those who is conducting the seminar for their target recruits are young college students. The members are really passionate and have a degree of talent and trained skills in convincing those who are there. I believe that most of those who were there have been at least convinced that the business is profitable and their product works.

May parang reheased reply pa yung mga members para supportahan yung lecturer sa harapan. For example:

Lecturer: 240,000 pesos. Malaki o maliit?

Members sa audience: Malaki!

Lecuturer: 7,400 pesos, malaki o maliit?

Members sa audience: Maliit!

Lecturer: 240,000 a week, gusto?

Members: gusto!

Lecturer: 7,4000 pesos kaya?

Members: Kayang kaya!

Lecturer: chehe, chene...

Members: wow!

Lecturer: chene, chene...

Members: huhuu!

hehehe! angsaya!


Sa dami ng mga kabataan doon, naisip ko tuloy kung paano naapektuhan ng krisis ang mga kabataan at paano sila humahanap ng paraan para harapin ang mga kahirapan ng krisis sa Pilipinas.

Palagi kong nakikita yung mga kabataan na aprang walang paki-alam. Palaging nasa computer shops, nagdo-DOTA. Naiinis ako minsan hindi lang dahil hindi ako marunong nung laro nugnit pati rin dahil sa parang wala nga silang paki-alam.

Pero hindi lang puro ganun ang mga kabataan ngayon. Napatunayan ko iyon nung kinaladkad kami ni Julius sa UNO. Marami talagang mga kabataan ang naghahanap ng pagkakakitaan sa pinakamabisang paraan.

Ang nakita ko sa UNO ay kung paano nila mistulagn ginagamit ang pagkakaroon ng mga kabataan ng malawak na network of friends. Kasi parang friendster na business ang dating sa akin nung business mas marami kang friends, mas marami kang puwedeng mainvite, posiblng makumbinsi at mapasali. Mas marami kang maakay, mas dadami kita mo. habang dumadami rin ang nakukumbinsi ng mga recruits mo, kumikita ka pa rin.

Mistulang target talaga ng UNO ang mga kabataan at mina-maximize ang mga katangian ng kabataan na member upang palwakin at palaguin ang kanilang business.

Sa ating bansa ngayon, na mahirap makauha ng diploma, kahit may diploma ka ay mahirap pa ring makahanap ngtrabaho, at kung may trabaho ka na ay kakarampot ang suweldo, ang prospect na kumita ng 15,000 pesos a week or up 240,000 a month kapalit ng 7,400 pesos na puhunan ay mabisang pangumbinsi. Sino ang ayaw sa 240,000?

Ako lang ata.

Sa walang katiyakang buhay sa Pilipinas, para sa mga estudyante, graduates at iba pang kabataan, marami ang nakukumbinsing mag-BUS (MagBenta, MangUtang, MagSanla) upang makabuo ng 7,400 para ipuhunan sa negosyong ito.

Si Julius mismo ng-sanla ng alahs ng nanay upang makabuo ng 7,400 dahil hindi talaga siya napatulog diumano ng prospect ng 240,000 kada week o month na kita.

Ang nakakalungkot lang dito, walang katiyakan din ang kita sa mga networking business na ito. Angtiyak lang dahil ang bawat member ay magbabayad ng 7,400 bago makapasok, tiyak na may kita na ang korposayon mismo at ang may-ari nito.

Saka anong klaseng hanapbuhay ang networking? Hindi ko makita ang isang tao na gagawing negosyo buong buhay niya ang ang networking ng kagaya ng UNO. walang security ang hanap-buhay doon.

Anyways, isa lang naman ang punto ko dito: ang krisis ng lipunan natin ay nagluluwal ng mga wirdong mga paraan para diumano makahon sa kahirapan at maamraming mga kabataan na gustong makahanap ng solusyon sa kahirapan ang napapadpad sa mga ito.

Nicole says she has now doubt of being raped

I've just watched on TV a very saddening and curious development on the "Nicole" rape case. "Nicole" has terminated the services of her lawyer Atty. Evalyn Ursua yesterday afternoon. She have also signed an affidavit stating that she now has doubts that she indeed have been raped by Lance Corporal Daniel Smith. "Nicole" is now, according to her mother, has left the country for the US.

This is a very saddening development especially for the Junk VFA Movement. The Subic Rape Case is considered as somewhat a banner case to hammer the call for the junking of the VFA. The Subic Rape case along with other case proves for a fact how lopsided, unjust and immoral the agreement is.

Ngunit gumuguhit ng isang malaking question mark ang pinakapanibagong statement ni "Nicole". It seems curious how she just have suddenly changed her mind out of the blue after fighting staunchly for her right and asserting that indeed she has been raped. She have endured the media, the grueling task of testifying and recounting the events in court. And suddenly, she just calls it quits. It really boggles my mind. My mind is right now saying "nabayaran na ito o kaya natakot". Nakakalungkot lang talaga. But it is not that surprising. It is the US after all who's got Daniel Smith's back and it has it s VFA to protect. Pwede nila at gagawin talaga nila ang lahat para maprotektahan sariling interes. And possibly this have been done as an attempt to derail or keep the Junk VFA Movement off-balanced.

Nakakagalit pa itong si Raul Gonzales, ngingisi-ngisi pa habang nagkokomento na noon pa paiba-iba na ng statement si "Nicole". Parang natutuwa pa talaga ito na binawi ni "Nicole" ang dating statement niya. Gonzales never did supported Nicole. In fact the government in general never did supported "Nicole's" case from the very start.

Rape of Philippine Sovereignty

Below: Senator Kiko Pangilinan during a Junk VFA forum at UP Diliman. Photo lifted from www.senate.gov.ph.



If there is an incident that clearly shows our relationship with the US, one would clearly be the case of Nicole vs. Daniel Smith. An American soldier rapes a Filipina, gets convicted but remains out of the reach of our justice system and we cannot do anything about it. Or, more accurately, our government refuses to do something about it because they are master and we are servant.

This is an actual case of rape, but not only of Nicole but also and even worst, of our national sovereignty. The case of Nicole and the continuous existence of the VFA has the US spitting on our Philippine sovereignty (if we indeed have it in the first place), treating the Philippine Constitution, the highest law of the land, as mere rug at their dirty feet. Photo lifted from www.daylife.com.

Here is a copy of the Junk VFA petition:

Stand for sovereignty. Junk the VFA!


Our country is once again at a crossroads. We are compelled to choose between rightfully asserting national sovereignty or surrendering it once more in the name of so-called "special relations."

The continuing detention of convicted rapist Lance Corporal Daniel Smith at the US embassy in Manila is clear proof of the grossly unequal character of the Visiting Forces Agreement or VFA. And despite the Philippine Supreme Court ruling declaring the Romulo-Kenney Agreement illegal and that Smith should be returned to the custody of Philippine authorities, the Arroyo government has not sought to regain custody of Smith. Instead, the Arroyo government continues to insist that Smith should remain in the US embassy until the highest court finally decides on his appeal. There is also every indication that the US will not surrender Smith to Philippine authorities at all.

The Smith case is only the most recent example of how grossly lopsided the VFA is in favor of the US. The VFA also falls short of the Philippine constitutional requirements for a valid treaty. It was ratified by the Philippine Senate but not by the US Senate and was merely recognized as a treaty by the US State Department.

While the Philippine government enforces the VFA in the country, it is not so in the US. With the recent US Supreme Court ruling in Medellin vs. Texas, treaties entered into by the US are deemed unenforceable in the US unless there is an implementing law or if the treaty is self-executory. The RP-US VFA falls short of these requirements set by the US Supreme Court.

With the unequal standards in the ratification and implementation of the agreement, no less than the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines in his dissenting opinion has called the VFA unconstitutional and a "slur on our sovereignty".

The complementary agreement VFA 2 further underscores the gross inequality and double-standards applied to US and Filipino troops. Filipino soldiers who are accused or convicted of crimes in the US will not have the same privileges that Daniel Smith enjoys today.VFA 2 highlights the utter absence of mutuality and reciprocity in the agreements.

Apart from being unconstitutional on its face, the VFA is also unconstitutional in its application. It allows the entry of an unlimited number of foreign troops for an indefinite period of time sans any basing treaty. Since 2002, US troops have been stationed in the Philippines under various pretexts and engaged in various questionable military operations.

For being patently unequal, unconstitutional and an affront to our national sovereignty, the VFA must be abrogated. The Executive branch, through President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, should exercise the right to terminate the agreement. With the abrogation of the VFA, the Arroyo government will have no other recourse but to impose Philippine laws and regain custody over Daniel Smith.

Our choice is simple and clear. We must choose sovereignty over supposed benefits from the VFA. We must choose national dignity over so-called "special relations" with the United States. The Philippines must conduct its foreign relations based on mutual respect, mutual benefit and non-intervention in each country’s internal affairs.

Junk the VFA now!


SIGNED:

GLOBAMA

The Obama-Gloria Connection: Parehas sumikat ang mga logo ng mukha nila, parehas sumisigaw ng pagbabago. Ang kaibahan: Iyong isa symbolizes hope, yung isa hopeless. Oust Gloria Icon made by Isip and Obama is hope icon by Shepard Fairy.