The KIA Rio Cup Experience! :)

Days before Christmas, our brothers and sisters from southern Philippines were greatly affected by typhoon Sendong. The death toll has exceeded a thousand and hundred individuals are still missing. This has been one of the worst calamities to hit the Philippines for the past years and probably the worst that Iligan and Cagayan de Oro experienced.

Soon after the typhoon, help poured in from several groups and individuals. One of which is the Kia Rio Cup which is the Azkals’ second charity game for the benefit of ABS-CBN Sagip Kapamilya: Operation Sendong. The first one was against the Internacional de Madrid, a Spanish Third Division team, which concluded in a 3-1 score favoring the visiting team.

The friendly match between the Azkals and Korean’s Icheon City FC was held in the Rizal Memorial Stadium last January 21. This is the first time that our national team will be playing against a South Korean soccer club. The pre-press conference was held last Friday at the Discovery Suites.

Bin Tae Kwan scored the first goal for Icheon in the 21^st minute. There have been several attempts by the Azkals to tie the game in the first half. Denis Wolf, who played his very first game as an Azkals player, had a number of shots but were not successful. On the 89^th minute, Marwin Angeles scored a goal, forcing a penalty shootout to determine who wins the charity game.

#24 Marwin Angeles' goaaaaaaaal! :)

The Azkals lost the shootout, only able to score 2 goals from Chieffy Caligdong and Ruben Doctora compared to the 4 goals of the Icheon City FC.

           
This has been the third friendly game of the Azkals (first: against the LA Galaxy and the second: against the Internacional de Madrid) and sadly, this is also their third loss. Coach Michael Weiß is still optimistic about the Filipinos’ support in football by saying that we should take advantage of the enthusiasm and the euphoria going on in the country to encourage young boys and girls to play the sport at a very young age.

There were a lot of kids who watched the game.

They even got a signed Azkals shirt! (Nakakainggit! :| Hahaha!)

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I don’t really know how it is or what will happen in the Kia Rio Cup press conference and the game itself but I was actually nervous thinking about it. Haha! I really had fun learning and meeting new people especially in the media room. We were in charge of registering and releasing the media passes. Although this game wasn’t that jampacked compared to the previous ones, we got the chance to experience at least how it is to work and deal with the media and organize the press conference.

'Filipino time' is probably one of the most annoying characteristics of Pinoys but I think in certain events such as press conferences, we should definitely consider the limited time that the coaches and the players have. Maybe, one of the most difficult things to ensure in a pre-game press conference is whether there would be enough media to cover the event. It is necessary to get as much publicity as possible to make the event a success. Notifying and reassuring the media about the schedule of the press conference could be one of the challenges the organizers experience.

I watched and observed how Kuya Icko makes sure that everything was set. I must say that it is very difficult. He ran from one place to another, talked to the security to clarify things, briefed us with what will happen and what are we supposed to do, dealt with the media when they have concerns regarding their passes and tickets and organized the post-game press conference. There is definitely a lot of pressure being responsible for making this event a success and I think everyone did their best to ensure that all things fall into place. J

--- Meg Rementina

Lou's very very personal taste/sandwich contest review

As a foreigner in the Philippines, I experienced how much taste for food is based on culture. Reviewing food here means reviewing my palate as well. French food is told sophiscated. I would rather welcome you in my narrow minded culinary world !

When Chef Edward Bugia came to Ateneo on the17^th of January to judge students' innovative sandwiches, he was quite surprised nobody used mayo. My team mates straight looked at me. That's right I vetoed it. « I know it will look French and pretentious. But please guys let's not use mayo it will be sweet or at least I'll cook a homemade one ».

Many of my fellow country mate living here became « food pretentious » as well. We are frightened in front of any jelly, disgusted by the most common peanut butter and we are moved to pity for poor sweet bread. We did not grew up eating this kind of food. Our obsessive worry in front of a menu turned out to be sweetness present in so many salty eats.

My sweet/salty car accident 

Mantra of Sir Olivares sandwich contest was to be original. So on, originality efforts focused on sweet/salty compositions. When I tasted the Red Light District, burgers ingredients inside a Krispy Kreme doughnut, I couldn't help saying, « It's not good when it's too sweet, » to my sandwich's creator classmate. It was rude. It was also rude for my taste buds. Homemade beef patties were made from thick and tender meat. I crunched inside with pleasure. But this meat and sweet cake pastry combination was equivalent to a violent car accident for my palate. Collision of two tastes not expected to ever meet.

Lighter sweet and salty mixings

The Fili(pino) Cheesesteak and the Breakfast Club offered a lighter sweet/salty mixing. Longganisa, pan de sal with cheese for the first one and bacon, avocado and cheese for the other, those mixing are defenitely not included in French taste. Eating them, I felt the attachment I got to this food since I'm in this country. Still in France, I would have said, « Bread is sweet ! Meet is sweet ! It can't work ! » And now I do know I'll certainly miss pan de sal back in my country. I enjoyed as well the avocado creating a new spread with cheese.

Big sporty guys need meat

Peanut butter, ketchup, mustard and different meats between two sandwich loaf slices for the Buff Dude creation brought back my strict policy about sweet and salty segregation. Taste of each food was quite lost. But I do understand that's kind of sandwich big guys getting out of their sport training would crave for.

Rereading my review, I'm feeling French cuisine appears more conservative than sophisticated. What's salty must remains in the main meal while sweetness stays on the dessert list. Sweet/salty mixings are rare in France but when there are it's a matter of proportions. Sweetness is displayed by tiny touches to emphasize salty flavours. We like a honey drop on our goat chesse or few figs on foie gras.

The Nacocoloco sandwich reminded me those mixings. Contrary to Chef Edward's opinion, I definitely think coco jam blends with German roast beef. I enjoyed this soft taste meat which got emphasized by light mixing with this extremly sweet spread.

Jam is ready to be displayed. Just a bit. 

Keep it simple but keep it straight as well

As the session was ending, Chef Edward treated Journalist's students with his last original culinary creation. Between two large bread slices, he arranged lettuce leaves,  shredded kani sticks seasoned with Japanese mayonnaise, wasabi and pepper, strips of green mangoes, Japanese caviar topped with crispy dili . It was an interesting tasteful mix of salty/sweet flavours highlighted by the good quality bread.

He explained to the students sandwich making rule is K.I.S.S. Not kissing the bread but Keep it Simple, Stupid. And he definitely knows what's talking about. Adviser for cooking TV shows, creator of many restaurants in Quezon city, Chef Edward is a fusion food master. Pino, his restaurant near Manginhawa street arranges together oriental spices, Pinoy meals and European inspirations.

It gives a clue about his best sandwich choice. During Steaklibrary's brainstorming session, I insisted to avoid sweet sauce or meat. While we were preparing the Fancylog sandwich in front of the audience, Jiggy spoke with a weird well imitated French accent to present our multi cultural creation. We displayed on the bread a pesto tapenade made from sun dried tomatoes, olives and peanuts. The spread was covered by some Tocino and Beef Tapa meat cubes.

Contrary to our expectations, meat was sweet. And it did create this soft sweet and salty mixed that is certainly our sandwich key success. This last minute recipe change taught me I should avoid to be gastro fascist.

I often say everything labelled as « grown up stuffs » is disgusting at first taste. Coffee, cigarettes and alcohol. But people do enjoy it afterwards.

According to my personal proverb, everything is a matter of habit. I started enjoying the soft sweet taste of some Filipino eats. But with my 20 years French food education, it means I should eat tons of peanut butter before to like it. YUCK …. or yum according to different people tastes.

And those culturally subjective biases are certainly one of the most important limit for food criticism.

January 17 was a good day for me. It's not everyday that you get to spend at most 3 hours just eating different types of sandwiches and enjoying the company of your class. There were 6 groups (+1 ultra expert chef)who attempted to be the "fanciest" of them all, and here they are as follows:

We were the first to present, FANCYLOG, and am sure we made quite the impression because of our name. It pioneered a few of the others presentations as they kept blabbering that theirs was the most "fancy" but i believe nothing beats the original! It's even integrated in our name :D

I believe we came up with the idea of mixing two cultures into one, mainly French and Filipino. We have one groupmate(Lou) and she was from there basically. We wanted to initially integrate the culture of food that every Filipino would know, which is the ulam(viand) plus sinangag(garlic/fried rice) and itlog (egg), very breakfast-y in every manner. Jiggy came up with the idea of putting something fancy from France which was tapenade. Most of the Filipino breakfast food are salty and decided that it would blend well with the tapenade(but with the recipe from Lou, but still salty). As for the name, Lou came up with it, thinking of it randomly and i instantly fell in love with the name. 


Next comes the FILI(PINO) CHEESE STEAK. I did not try their sandwhich because they trash talked our group by saying theirs was fancier... nuff said.. on another note, their sandwhich was a Filipino version of the famous Philly Cheese Steak. But instead of steak, they used longanissa(Local sausage) and some fancy Holland cheese! some said it was okay, but some said it didn't blend well. Given that the longanissa was sweet/salty and the cheese was kind of bland for the sandwhich.


BREAKFAST CLUB offered a similar idea as us, something for the morning. What made me think differently was that they presented it as something really healthy but contained bacon, avocado, and cheese, very fattening food. But as soon as I tried it, it was okay, nothing special, but did remind me of the usual clubhouse sandwiches i occasionally eat.


THE RED LIGHT DISTRICT was something original to me, but knew it was pirated from the very start. It was something super bad and evil but still we ingest things like those. The bun they used was a original krispy kreme donut and the fillings was the usual patty, bacon, and cheese. I was susceptible at first to trying it out but it tasted pretty well. I like how it was first sweet then salty afterwards, it was a treat for my palette. Two things i did not like from their sandwich though, the patty could have been a bit meatier or saltier, theirs was bland and sort of ruined the mood of the experience. Next was that the bacon was poorly cooked, it was too oily and would have been sooooo much better if it was crispy.


NAKAKA-LOKO's group had an exchange student from Germany (German Rolls made it obvious) but retracted their name after remembering it. They kept mentioning how theirs was the fanciest of them all and true enough, i thought it deserved to be called fancy. They had two kinds of ham, relish, and coco jam. It gave a really foreign taste because of the ham's taste when it mixes with the jam. I liked how fresh it seemed because of the idea of using jam with meat when I usually just put it with bread. It mixed well with the other ingredients and i liked it best, next to FANCYLOG of course!


The last group was the most O_O (emoticon) of them all in my opinion. BUFF DUDE has this idea of mashing all sorts of meat into the sandwich to give some kind of monster meal idea. I believe they used spam, bacon, beef patties, and a few more. Then proceeded to add peanut butter, ketchup, and mustard. My mouth was very confused as i didn't like eating all sorts of meat at once and one of the wth taste was when they used wheat bread in it. The bread did not go so well with the sandwich and could have been much better if they used a bun.


The chef on the otherhand prepared something the night before and it was fantastic. He made a kani-salad-with-dilis-and-cavier ultra sandwich. Given that he used mayo (which none of the groups did), it made the sandwich very juicy. he used a buttload of stuff which made the sandwich look very stacked and appealing, only giving problems to those who try to cut it. The sandwich from the ocean is something i won't forget that easily because it's one of the firsts I've tried that contained caviar in it. Truly a fancy masterpiece.


-Raymond Yam 


p.s. apologies for not providing fancy food critic stuff. I usually just put anything in my mouth and say if its good or bad. this has been the furthest i've been with giving a food review. xiexie!

Food Food FOOOOOD!!! By Miguel Salvador

Fancylog
This has got to be the best sandwich ever!! But biases aside, I am really proud that my group was able to think of such a tasteful, classy but also simple sandwich! The mix between French and Filipino twist was such a good idea that I am so proud to be part of this group. From how it turned out last Tuesday, it seems that the creative juices and the love for food of my group has paid off! Im still sad though that I wasn't able to be there on time to host for my group. I really wanted to introduce my group's sandwich because from how it was planned, it really sounded amazing already. NEXT TIME, I will introduce something like this again and I WONT MISS IT! Plus, it was all about food! My group really loves food! Maybe thats why we had a knack for this! Haha!

Fili(pino) Cheese Steak!
I loved how they introduced themselves. I have always been a fan of cheese and the name of their sandwich really drew me in! But alas, i wasnt able to taste it because i was dieting and eating every single sandwich would make me feel too guilty to ever eat again. Another reason why i liked their sandwich was because it really made use of everyday Filipino ingredients. It really reminded me of everyday breakfast when i would be in a rush to go to school and just grab the nearest pandesal on the table and stuff it with every ulam i could see on the table. Now that i think about it, its an on the go sandwich! Great for students and those working!

Breakfast Club
Diet or no diet, there was one ingredient this group used that made me forget the diet and just dug in! But, i was kind of hesitant because they said that their other ingredient was avocado. I have never really tried mixing fruits with my bacon. I thought that it would tarnish the oh so juicy, scrumptious, mouth watering..ehem.. (did i mention i love bacon?) bacon. But actually, it was good! My only say for the matter is the mashed avocado could have used a bit more of seasoning to make the avocado taste show. The bacon overpowered it too much in my opinion. Or maybe my brain was still focused on the bacon! Teehee :)

Red Light District
This was second to the most hilarious group ever. The way they presented their sandwich was really entertaining. One of the reasons why i did go and try their sandwich was because of the way they presented their sandwich. The other reason why i wanted to try their sandwich out was because their sandwich was CRAZY. Its bun was a Krispy Kreme Donut!! In my head the clash of the sweetness and saltyness would destroy their sandwich. But, alas, i had to taste it and all my judgments towards the sandwich vanished. After a minute of scrunching my face because of the weird sensation in my mouth, i later realized, my mouth was liking it. Good job and yum yum!

Nacocoloco Sandwich
This for me sounded the most filipino for me because it made use of coconuts. Okay, maybe that didn't make sense but in my head, coconut is a word i sometimes automatically associate with our country. Plus the mix of ham, lettuce and cheese made it very yummy. But, to be honest, the taste of the coconut jam they used didnt shine on the bite i had so i really didnt see any difference on the sandwich. But i guess i would still have liked it. ITS FOOD! NYOM NYOM NYOM!

The Buff Dude Sandwich
I found this one really interesting. It was so meaty and so... BUFF! It had spam, bacon, and burger! All my favorites. I was kind of iffy towards the mustard, peanut butter and ketchup, but hey! everything turned out well and it was meatylicious! My only real problem with this sandwich was the fact that it was kind of salty galore and not healhy. Sadly i didnt taste it because i was really full at this time. Plus my diet.. :((

Chef Ed's Sandwich
THIS IS PURE AWESOME-NESS. He did it less than 3 min and it was so amazing. The crabstick mayo, wasabi, mixture was so great when it was mixed with the dilis. After the chef made it, i really felt bad about all our work because it was so good to look at! Though i have been saying i was trying to avoid food, this i had to try.. and im really glad i did! It really tasted healthy since it was all seafood and it even had green mangoes and lettuce! And as one of the first people to try out this sandwich, i would recommend it to all beings on this earth! it was filipino, simple, and on the budget! AWESOME!!

FOOD REVIEWS IN HAIKU

I like things straight to the point, but I like being artistic as well, so I'll attempt to make food reviews of Tuesday's sandwich making adventure in haiku form (per sandwich of course). This is gonna be tough, but I like experimenting a bit.

HERE WE GO!

FANCYLOG:

Tocino on top
Then baguette and tapenade
Add longganisa

Two cultures as one
Filipino and French jive
Fusion food success

FILI(PINO) CHEESE STEAK:

Pandesal and cheese
Then put the longganisa
Toast, and this you get

Cheese should be salty
A breakfast sandwich, we have
But all good, B+

THE BREAKFAST CLUB:

A complex sandwich
In, it has avocado
Too weird for my taste

Still a good attempt
Many a health buff will like
There is still bacon

RED LIGHT DISTRICT:

The donut is sweet
Burger, cholesterol
Bacon not crispy

Put all together
A heart attack just waiting
Tasty but deadly

NACOCO-LOCO SANDWICH:

They don't like it much
But I like the coco jam
It balanced the salt

Very ambitious
This is my true favorite
Triple A rating

THE BUFF DUDE:

Too much meat within
Spam and burger and bacon
Why put in wheat bread?

No flavor distinct
It's just wheat-meat in your mouth
Too bland for my taste

CHEF EDWARD'S KANI-DILIS SANDWICH:

Fil-Jap creation
It is a taste explosion
Green mango surprise

Needs a few more tweaks
It will be a bestseller
Maintain great texture

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Wow, that was a challenge. I had fun making these, but I don't think this will be very effective in magazines though. HAHA!

Until next time!

-Jiggy

Meg's Food Review :)

FANCYLOG

I think from the very start, we all agreed to keep the sandwich as Pinoy as possible. We thought of including tuyo and beef tapa but we decided to use tocino and sausages instead. We added a twist to our sandwich by integrating French elements, care of Lou J, such as baguette and tapenade. I was actually quite worried that the French and Pinoy flavors won’t really work because I haven’t tasted tapenade before but I trust by groupmates so we went with it. Compared to other groups, I guess ours is the most complicated one because of the tapenade made by Lou. One must really have a background and a good palate to get the exact flavor of the tapenade. It is not one of the easiest sandwiches to make at home, but it is definitely worth trying for.

We were actually excited about this exercise because we wanted to experiment on different ingredients and we wanted it to stand out from the rest – and it did! J

FILI(PINO) CHEESE STEAK

I really liked the simplicity of the sandwich. The ingredients are easily available and it doesn’t take much time in preparing it. The melted cheese on top made it look really tasty but I didn’t really tasted it, probably if they used other brand of cheese with stronger taste, the saltyness of the longganisa and the sweetness would complement one another.

THE BREAKFAST CLUB

From the looks of the sandwich, I  think has the most colorful ingredients – which is actually good because it made me want to eat it. It was my first time seeing and tasting a sandwich with avocado on it. I though avocados are only meant to be eaten individually as dessert. Honestly, I am not a fan of the sandwich maybe because it was new to me and I am not really a fan of avocados . But I applaud them for taking a risk and introducing me to another variety of sandwich. J

RED LIGHT DISTRICT

Compared to the other groups’ sandwiches, this is my favorite. At first, I wasn’t sure whether the sweet donut will go together with the saltyness of the beef patty. It was actually good and very tasty. I was quite surprised that the flavors didn’t overpower one another. I would definitely try this at home and serve this to my family and friends! J

NA-COCO-LOKO SANDWICH

I really appreciated the group’s effort to create a unique sandwich. It was my first time tasting coco jam together with ham, cheese and lettuce. I think the ham lacked flavor because the sweetness of the jam and the bitterness of the lettuce are the only elements that I was able to get from it. But the fact that they tried to integrate German elements to their sandwich made it special.

THE BUFF DUDE

The sandwich had several ingredients (bacon, spam, peanut butter, mustard, ketchup, etc.). I think these are the kind of sandwiches buff men would like because of the meat overload. Hehe! I think overall, the sandwich tasted and looked good. I wouldn’t change a thing about it. The ingredients tasted well with one another.

CHEF EDWARD’S SANDWICH

From the looks and the ingredients of the sandwich, one would probably say that it costs much but I think the knowledge and the creativity of the chef is more important in determining whether it is a good sandwich or not. Chef Edward used ingredients which are typically used only for viands such as the sweet and spicy dilis and Japanese caviar. Yes, the sandwich is easy to make at home but requires skills and creativity before one could make it look really remarkable and mouthwatering at the same time. J

-Meg Rementina

It IS more fun in the Philippines! By Miguel Salvador

         Honestly, people would have to admit, it IS more fun in the Philippines. From my point of view it shows a lot of how Filipinos are in general are fun loving. You may take away everything from us, but in the end, we are resilient and still get the chance to smile and appreciate our lives. Even the inside joke ads about our sabong or the one where we showcase how young kids don't have to think about the legal age show how "fun" we are in our country. But all that was mentioned so far is just one aspect that is personal with the masses of the Filipinos and that only those who live in our country would get.

 Of course, for those who are foreign to our country, we have ads that showcase how beautiful our country is. And these ads and it's taglines are interestingly witty and funny. Shallow as i may be, for me i found most of ads funny. Nature lovers would love to visit our great scenery. And party goers and water sports lovers would love to go to our hot spots like at Boracay or Cagayan De Oro or even at Palawan. Our country really is a great getaway for people. Plus, we should be proud of these because it shows that in general Filipinos have a sense of humor and have
beautiful country.

In my opinion, i like these ads because they showcase our "pagka-filipino". It sums up, in a way, our culture in a photograph. Take away all biases and just look at these ads, i bet these ads would really catch your eye and would truly say, "Wow, the Philippines looks fun! I think i wanna go!" As for filipinos, these ads would just give us a sense of sentimentality to our nation and our country and just say, and even i would proudly say, "oo nga, ang saya nga sa atin!"

“BLUERES ISSUE CONTINUES TO HEAT UP, PULSE OF STUDENTS SOUGHT”

History of BlueRes

By 2014, a towering figure almost twice the size of its neighboring buildings will rise beside the Ateneo de Manila University; it is the Blue Residences of SM development center. The Blue Residences showcases condominiums that can accommodate a single or two bedroom rooms. It is an ideal place for students because it is just beside schools like the Ateneo, Miriam, and with just a jeep ride away, to UP. It is also supposedly great for young small families. It’s location, mentioned by their website, supposedly is very ideal because it is near schools and the LRT2 station is just across the street from it. The building has up to 41 floors with a swimming pool on the 7^th floor. A typical room has a living and dining area that are 600by 600. The Toilet and bath is 200x200. It has a bedroom that is 600 by 600 and a balcony. From what is being offered by SM, these rooms are perfect for a student.

 Though good intentions may come from the SM development corporations, at which they have tagged themselves as “the good guys”, it has supposedly violated zoning regulations within the community and failed to follow due processes for its construction. But how did this happen in the first place? 

The conspiracy began when SM was quickly granted an exemption from the zoning regulations, which states that buildings to be constructed should follow a height limit. However, their building was granted almost double of the prescribed limit. The question that pondered the minds of the Ateneans was: “Why should the request for exemption be granted? This should be explained based on the guidelines specified on the ordinance.” They continually hounded SM during their meetings for answers but SM took it to their lawyers and repeatedly stated that they complied with the processes but official documents are yet to be found in any office within city hall. They also lacked official documents that formally stated that they have consulted within the Loyola Heights Barangay and the community around them. While Ateneo persisted SM with showing the official documentation of the exemption, they continue to prolong the issue and mention that they still are in the process of the acquisition of documents. When stakeholders from the community voiced their concerns towards the lack of consultation from SM, their only answer was them mentioning the benefits of the Blue Residences while avoiding more important issues such as the traffic and environmental problems. Realizing that they communication with SM was a long shot, Ateneo asked the Quezon City Authority to stop the construction through a “Cease and Desist” order to show that they are on their side but to no avail. The next option presented to them was to file a case against the Quezon City Council instead because the exemption was approved and passed under suspended rules, without complying with the regular legislative procedures of the City Council. There were no justifiable grounds for granting it and in doing so, they granted certain privileges and benefits to SM Development Corporation which they are not entitled to.

Update: Ombudsman Filing

                Last December 14 2011, the representatives of the Loyola Heights Community (Ateneo de Manila University, Sanggunian ng mga Paaralang Loyola ng Ateneo de Manila, La Vista Association Inc., Varsity Hills Homeowners Association, Villa Aurora Townhomes Homeowners Association Inc. and Xaverville II Homeowners Association, Inc.) went to the Office of the Ombudsman to file a graft case against the 17^th Quezon City Council and the building officials. This is in line with the exemption grant given to SM to build a 42-storey rise in one day without any consultation from the community. Moreover, the grant was decided upon suspended rules without giving any reason why the exemption was given.

Atty. Giovanni Vallente reiterated that the complainants are fighting for good governance, “we are not totally against the construction, what we are against is that they are not complying with the ordinance and the building rules. Essentially, all we want is for them to comply with it.”

Moses Albiento (Junior Central Board Representative, School of Social Sciences, Ateneo de Manila University), Atty. Giovanni Vallente and … pose for the media waiting at the Office of the Ombudsman.

                        A few months after the rally for good governance (August 12, 2011 at Ateneo de Manila gate 2.5), tarpaulins were posted along the Katipunan road asking the councilors to revoke the exemption. The Loyola Heights Community did not stop from there.

                        “We were actually engaging them in a conversation hoping that they will comply. Unfortunately, all our efforts have fallen on deaf ears. In fact, those of you who pass Katipunan must have seen a lot of our tarps asking our councilors to revoke the exemption. […] It has been a long time that we tend to engage them but when we felt that nothing’s gonna happen, then we took the next step. In fact, before the filing of this case, we actually sent demand letters to the councilors requesting them to, if possible, revoke the ordinance. Unfortunately, not even one of them responded to our letter. “

The signatories together with Atty. Giovanni Vallente

The signatories, Atty. Giovanni Vallente, Arch. Jose Arnulfo Batac (Director for Facilities Management of the Ateneo) and the Sanggu officers

This is just the beginning of a new chapter to this controversial issue regarding SM Blue. This just shows how serious the Loyola Heights Community are in their fight for good governance.

THE ATENEAN PULSE

The Steak Library did an independent study to get Atenean’s opinions on the BlueRes issue. The study was done in aims to determine how your average Atenean student is involved with the issue.

After asking how the BlueRes issue affects Ateneans, they were asked to reason out their answers. The top answers are as follows:

The percentage of uninformed Ateneans state that they just haven’t been hearing much about the issue.

Of those affected by the BlueRes Issue, many have reasoned traffic as their top concern and only some have considered the earthquake danger as a reason for being affected. What’s bothering is that Ateneans’ concern for heavier traffic if BlueRes gets built is much greater than their concern for the violation of principle in the process of building BlueRes.

For those who are not affected by the BlueRes issue, many have expressed indifference and helplessness towards the issue. The top answers of indifference are attributed to having someone else doing the fighting for them (Sanggu, Ateneo, LH Community) and the respondents having graduated already when BlueRes is built. Many also feel that the LH Community is helpless against SM and the government.

HAVE ATENEANS NO CARE?

In the study conducted, 27% are still uninformed of the BlueRes Issue, 43% feel that the issue does not affect them and only 30% feel that BlueRes will have an impact in their lives. By transition, only 30% feel the heat of the issue and effectively, 70% are indifferent to it.

It saddens the researchers to know that a lot of those unaffected by the Blue Residences issue are very much indifferent, a bunch even attributing their indifference to “I’ll have graduated anyway when it’s done.” What’s even more dispiriting is that of the ones who feel affected, a lot have expressed heavier traffic along Katipunan as their major cause for being affected.

So, have Ateneans lain off principle in favor of more shallow reasons? Does Katipunan traffic affect the students more than the violation of our rights? Does “graduating anyway” justify not caring about a large-scale construction just beside our school?

FIGHTING A DESPERATE BATTLE

Joben Odulio, 2^nd Year SOM Central Board Representative and a Sanggu officer working on the BlueRes issue, said in an interview:

“We have been trying really hard to fight for this. We can’t just let ourselves be stepped on. But the thing is, konti lang kami. Walang strength in numbers. We can lobby all we want but we are a small party with no money and minimal influence. Compared to the government and SM, maliit lang tayo. Mahirap talaga, but it’s the principle were fighting for. If we continue to let this through, effectively, we’ve allowed corruption to happen.”

BlueRes is an issue that should affect us all. Not as Ateneans anymore, no. But as citizens of our country, it is our duty, all of our duties, to fight for democracy and good governance in the Philippines. If SM Blue Residences is successfully built, what’s preventing anyone from bypassing the system anymore? What will prevent this from happening again? Not only here in Katipunan but in the rest of the Philippines. Hopefully, this battle of David vs. Goliath will turn out well and prove that there is still principle in our government.