MGT 231 Supplement: My Values and UP Education

This was supposed to be an entry in my personal blog , www.bananaspin.blogspot.com – but since it talks about personal values and individual choices, I feel that it merits a place here also.

I have always appreciated my UP Education. I always attribute my streak of courage from my 8 years of UP, otherwise, I might be more “duwag” than what I am now.

(Yes, I am duwag most of the time and not as street smart like other people think)

They say UP makes one liberated and leftist. But I call on you not to stereotype. UP simply makes a person brave enough to show the world what he’s really made of. I am not an activist, but I admit, I have joined the rallies and sometimes threw my fist up in the air. But I only joined the mobs on the streets if it’s an issue that I believed in… not simply joining the bandwagon because they say us “iskolar ng bayans” have to be activists.

I was in my 4th year in UP Rural High School, contemplating whether to go to UP or Ateneo for college when my English teacher told me, “Passing Ateneo is a blessing, if I were you, I’d go to Ateneo – wag dito sa UP, nadedemonyo ang mga estudyante dito!” I found the statement a bit funny, considering that she was a UP faculty member. But I won’t really say “nadedemonyo” – I stayed in a dorm with the college kids, and they can be rowdy sometimes, but not demonic!

I never really had a choice, my dad (a pure blooded UP student, from elementary to high school and his obviously much enjoyed Beta Sigma college life) insisted that I go to UP. So I went.

And had the time of my life! I graduated not entirely free of sin – but not demonic either. I had a diploma and my values intact. I may not be that religious, but I am not bastos.

Along the way, I met plenty of people with various personalities. Some friends succeeded, some did not. Some graduated with honors, while some stopped schooling. Some were liberated and some were so conservative (or at least I thought so). I had friends who hated their parents, and some more friends who loved theirs. There were the musicians, the painters, the actors, the intellectuals, the druggies, the delinquents, the gimmickeros and gimmeckeras. I was able to choose who to hang out with and which habits to pick up.

Overall, it’s all about choices. I don’t think years in high school or college can ever destroy the values and discipline that the family can instill upon their child.

A classmate in grad school is thinking of sending his daughter to UP Rural High School, but is questioning the kind of values that such a “free” educational system might offer. Indeed, Sir Bebo, we never had religion or values education at Rural. But the teachers didn’t urge us to shout at our parents, smoke, or take drugs. We were drawn a picture of the real world and how our own choices may lead us to success or failures. We were taught that there were no sure shots to success, that hard work had results, and that in life – nothing is free except free will.

I say, if you trust her enough and believe that you have nurtured her well throughout the years – give her the UP Education that she deserves. Where she can learn about values not only from the classroom, but from all over the place.


I know I did.


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I always say that I have the best parents because they raised such a fantastic kid. (I am happy with how I turned out to be) I had a Catholic elementary education, so I guess that also helped firm up my beliefs. I just want to share that I’d want to raise a kid that way also.

CHRISTMAS SHINDIG AT THE IDMG HOUSE

Dear All,

Posting photos of our Christmas Party ! Enjoy !

(my apologies for the low resolution...)

Nais ko lang sabihin na iba talaga ang "saya" na dulot ng UPLB.

Walang kyeme.

Tutuong tutuo.

Sa uulitin!

Congrats to the Organizers! It was a fun event ...

Good food and great fun :-)

DM 201: How I wish we can watch Riles :)

Filmmaker Ditsi Carolino achieves an amazing intimacy in her cinema verite portrait of a young Filipino couple, Eddie and Pen Renomeron, their three adopted children and two kids of their own. The family lives in a neighborhood teaming with makeshift houses crowded dangerously close to the railway tracks in the Philippine capital Manila. Between the rails, children play, handmade carts are transported, men gamble and women socialize. When a train approaches, everyone steps aside for a moment and, once the cars have rumbled past, life resumes its normal course. Eddie and Pen have serious worries, because the landlord has announced that their "house" is to be demolished. They owe a great deal in back rent. Eddie earns almost nothing selling duck eggs and the pittance that Pen receives as a maid does not help enough. They each cope with their anxieties in different ways: Eddie converts his hard-earned cash into booze whenever he gets a chance and when Pen finds her husband drunk, she flies into a rage. Filmmaker Carolino exhibits remarkable skill in capturing the seminal moments of emotion and humor in one family's life journey.

*film summary from http://www.mediarights.org/film/life_on_the_tracks_riles
* photo from http://tornandfrayed.typepad.com/tornandfrayed/2005/11/howie_severino_.html

DM 201 is mostly composeed of discussions on poverty. Mostly the technical side of it (with what I want to call "the development set language" (more on this later) - poverty threshold, minimum daily wage, etc. etc. Most of the time, I find myself wantong to explore the heart that is involved in development work. My mind starts to fly to images of inequality, hunger and lack of education.

I have seen Ditsi's "Riles" twice. Once during the 7th Ayala Young Leaders Congress (February 2005 - see photo! ) and I think early June 2005 at the Filipinas Heritage Library when our HR Team at Ayala Foundation organized a screening for us (by the way, well done, Ave). On that 2nd screening, Ditsi brought with her the film's main characters, Eddie and Pen Renomeron, and her partner in making the film - Nana Buxani.

*Hanna with Ditsi Carolino during the 7th AYLC in Tagaytay City last February 2005
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We had a great interaction with the Riles Team. Learned about the hows and the whys of the film - again touching up on the "technical" part as well as the "heart" part of both filmmaking and poverty. We were also given a chance to buy some of Pen's balut after the screening !

(Yes, they still live along the riles... although at that time Ditsi also told us that the family was being awarded a home in one Gawad Kalinga community, and that some of their kids, adopted or biological were also given scholarships by concerned citizens)

In one of our DM 201 classes, we discussed an article on how hungry Filipinos are. The article pointed out that we now define hungry as having eaten "once in three months." Interestingly, Pinoys now get more value for their P10,000.00 , not because it can buy more food - but because most have lowered their standards for what they consider as full meals. As one classmate put it, families can stretch their peso by choosing to make soy sauce their viands rather than buying meat or fish which can only feed a few people for a few days.

This was when we explored the possibility of viewing Riles, also to give our Vietnamese classmates an "almost" first hand experience of life on the tracks.

Upon consultation with some contacts, I learned that the filmmakers don't lend or sell the film. We have to organize the "perfect cinematic experience" for the potential audience (they have certain technical requirements) , and the filmmakers should also be present.

I think this is a wonderful opportunity though, I wonder what the Departnment feels about organizing a film showing of Riles for the whole college? Or maybe grad school?

Thoughts, anyone?

MGT 231: Slices of Life

*Before anything else, I would again like to congratulate Group 1 for a job well done : Sheila, Carla, Charelle, Reigh, Oya -- you guys surely gave an act that’s tough to follow! To the succeeding groups, good luck!

ACTIVITY: Each member of the class was given a paper plate to draw on. Each one was made to allocate a “pie slice” of the following life areas:

WORK
LOVE and RELATIONSHIPS
PLAY

The bigger the pie slice means more time and value given to that life area. Check out mine:

I roughly allocated 20% for play, and 40% each for work and love & relationships.

For non-classmates… curious to know how you fared? According to group 1, the pie graph can be interpreted as follows:

WORK> love and play = a lifestyle of responsibility

LOVE> work and play = a lifestyle of dependency

PLAY> love and work = a lifestyle of fear of responsibility

Naturally, everyone in the class had different pie graphs. I noticed some workaholic and lovestruck beings ~ work and love taking up most of their pies. Good thing I didn’t see anyone who had a large chunk of play… (just goes to show that nobody runs away from responsibility)

Giving importance to work may be a sign of responsibility – but too much of it (especially if it gets in the way of love and relationships!) can be a bad thing, and for me, sort of, well, saddening. We work to live, NOT live to work! Workaholics, get a life! The 8 hour work day was set for a reason.

I remember Ayala Foundation’s “Work-Life Project.” Employees and companies were encouraged to give importance to the other aspects in their lives. I hope to show a video of this to the class when I get a chance.

They say too much can be bad for you and I completely agree! Hearts and emotions cannot make the world go round. And as Carla said during the report, “Hindi pwede kainin ang love!” Valuing love and relationships is essential – but never lose sight or reality and responsibility.

My boyfriend is in the military – and the early days of our relationship were made harder by his “controlled life” as a cadet in the Philippine Military Academy. Times together were scarce… at that time I usually dropped anything I was doing whenever the Academy granted them leaves. I cut work, excused myself from barkada outings and volunteer work and rushed to Baguio as soon as possible! Sayang nga naman, I said to myself, minsan lang naman.

Pero gaano kadalas ang minsan? Once? Twice? A hundred times?

Eventually, I realized, my life cannot revolve around my relationship. I ended up with less quality work and neglected responsibilities. Now, I have learned to accept reality – learned to pace myself and prioritize!

And as for more PLAY than work and love, how irresponsible can one get?

Determining the time and attention I give between the three life areas was quite easy at first. But as I looked at the pie and evaluated my day to day interactions, I had a hard time putting my thoughts in order. Through the activity, I learned that we really can’t isolate each aspect of our life from the others.

In my case, I find both fun and great relationships in my work … which makes work not that much of a burden. Believe it or not, I wake up each day looking forward to responsibilities lined up for me, to interesting people at work, to new things waiting for me all throughout the day. Perhaps, my pie should be one colorful swirl!