For months in 2014, I was thinking and praying fervently about whether I should exit the Middle East the following year. Voila, in the latter part of 2015, I returned to Manila after eight years of being a Dammam and Jeddah-based OFW, joined what I thought was a simple profession of teaching matured-minded college students, spent a decade working in a higher education institution, and continue until now.
Our R&D – glory to God – will bestow honors to my research endeavors for the second time in a few days; I told you so, it’s not easy to teach in the university (I cannot speak for my fellow Gawad Pantas awardees, though).
To be exact, that’s teaching, research, and community extension. You may check the Wardell Chart on What Does Lecturer Do (2021). It shows the three roles in a third of a pie each, with many, many rays outside the pie (like the sun). The rays have labels, e.g., writing grant applications; reading new books and articles; disseminating data for public; public or community service; course advice, career advice, pastoral care for students; collegiality and leadership; organizing conferences; examining theses; serving on professional associations; professional development/training; emails, responding to student queries; setting up and managing e-learning materials; writing or refreshing course content; delivering lectures, seminars, tutorials; and many, many more.
What did I miss doing abroad? Monitoring Philippine news and current affairs strictly! Check out the adverb I used, because in 2,000 days abroad I would monitor via TFC, GMA TV Pinoy Plus, Inquirer.net, Philstar.com, and other newspapers’ online versions. Subalit nagpapakasubsob ako sa trabaho habang konti-kontinente ang layo sa pamilya. Hindi ko rin inalis ang basketbol sa weekend (Biyernes). Kinalaunan, ibinalik din ako ng Diyos sa Kanyang ubasan.
Mababaw lang talaga ang pagmonitor ko sa Inang Bayan noon.
I would have no idea that powerful political clans were just starting to spread misinformation and historical distortion through their publicists. I would have a bit of an idea that that was being propagated too fast on YouTube and Facebook – in that order – but I wouldn’t usually use these social media platforms and would totally abhor their content.
That was one of the things overseas that I felt sorry about. I felt more responsible for my inaction when some student supporters of then presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte tried to shame me face to face. I used social science, humanities, constitutional and biblical principles in my classrooms on Jhocson Street, but I couldn’t work with some of them. I thought fake news and false narratives were already so powerful and were spread so wide just to implement the extra-judicial killings from Davao City to the entire archipelago.
Some claimed – without proper context – that I didn’t accept the fact that “pana-panahon lang ‘yan” and that I was Dilawan and later Pinklawan. (Well, UniTeam lost big time in all UAAP member-schools in student and employee surveys and in the elections.) Now that Daughterty has been impeached twice, they asked why we’re so afraid of her in 2028. Can’t they just say that we are just so angry about her impeachable offenses? They may have forgotten “Makibaka! Huwag matakot!” This chant may have weakened, but it seems to be never-ending as long as those greedy for power are around, and the State, according to the 1987 Constitution, “shall free the people from poverty.”
What about the DDS? (On the worldwide web, it stands for either Diehard Duterte Supporters or Davao Death Squad.) Why can’t they say they are DDS when it’s time to admit it? If they say non-Duterte supporters are so clean and intelligent (“mapagmalinis at matatalino”), does that mean the DDS are really allowing themselves to be fooled by the dynastic Duterte family?
Now, it’s not so wrong to categorize Duterte supporters as the same as Tokhang General-turned-Tsinator Bato dela Rosa’s. They are the two who initiated the EJKs in the name of the War on Drugs. That’s why they no longer have any differences in using people as rallyists. And if you ask them, they automatically have the same feelings about Digong and Bato: Human rights violations don’t matter if the Republic can be saved from “narco-politics.”
Many are now distancing themselves from the Dutertes. Whether VP Sara is computer literate or not (she admitted, “I don’t know how to use a laptop.”), whether she can explain her impeachable offenses or not, the fact is that she is not the most qualified and best person to occupy the highest position of service in 2028, although she has high hopes for becoming president as she is the first to declare it.
Which might lead observers to conclude that after an overwhelming majority of 257 congresspersons voted to impeach her, while 25 voted against and nine abstained, the soon-to-arrested Bato, who has been issued an ICC warrant to be with his boss at the Hague, will surely be protected by the Dutertes, by the DDS, and by the Caldero Senate.
Let this be clear, however, that there is no such thing as “protective custody” that is more prevailing than what the ICC is bound to protect. As the Ateneo senior research fellow Atty. Michael Henry Yusingco opined: “The notion of ‘protective custody’ by the Senate has no constitutional basis. This is a mere creation of senators and has no legal legs to stand on. Parliamentary immunity is not applicable here. Preventing the arrest of Sen. Bato, therefore, is ultra vires. Senators who are behind this move are violating their oath to uphold the Constitution.”
Given my experience in the classroom, e-classroom, and my previous “subsob” work experience abroad to the point that I missed strictly monitoring what’s happening in the Filipino information ecosystem, it is important and timely to bring into the conversation the call for students and professors to work hard in learning and teaching in a way that lessens confusion and values responsible citizenship more. When general education (GE) is poorly taught, students will naturally think it is useless. Interestingly, many employers—even in tech and business—are searching for skills that a good GE education often develops such as communication, critical thinking, ethics, research, collaboration, writing, cultural literacy, and artistic expressions.
How should responsible citizens, for example, express their thoughts on the six-month absence of Bato from the Senate? As a former general out of the Philippine Military Academy, did he genuinely act like a gentleman and an officer when NBI agents were about to arrest him in the august hall of the Senate? Since impeaching high-ranking officials is a constitutional exercise, do people think critically and demand answers to questions like these, including legitimate concerns of transparency and accountability in the impeachment case of Daughterty?
DC Alviar
Professor DC Alviar is a tenured associate professor at National University (NU) Manila and a steering committee member of the Philippine International Studies Organization (PHISO). He has contributed to NU's community extension initiatives that introduced the five disciplines of a learning organization (Senge, 1990) to communities within a local government unit. He writes and edits local reports for Mega Scene. He graduated with Master of Development Communication (MDC) and Doctor of Communication (DComm) degrees from the University of the Philippines (UP) Open University in Los Baños and was awarded with a Commission on Higher Education (CHED) SIKAP grant. He previously served as editor-in-chief of The Adamson News and his high school publication Ang Ugat.
- DC Alviar
- DC Alviar
- DC Alviar
- DC Alviar
