(Originally posted here. February 1, 2008)

The day after my thesis shoot, I passed by my friends' own thesis shoot in UP Village. That was last Sunday. It was a set shoot, with all the bulky lights and equipment. It went on for almost twenty-four hours, but I didn't stay on all the way. Eka and Patti were also shooting on 35 mm film, something I also planned on doing but eventually decided against it.

Interestingly, we're shooting at the same location, in the same apartment, in two weeks.

(Originally posted here. January 31, 2008)

After picketing outside the gates of Senate, we returned to campus and updated our fellow students of the progress of the UP Charter bicameral conference approval. I went org hopping with some colleagues in AS, Engineering and Vinzons. Late that afternoon, we held a program at AS steps then proceeded to march towards Vinzons Hall where we continued the information campaign.

It's quite telling, that the passage of the new UP Charter was set right at the beginning of the year of the university's centennial, because it is indeed part of a larger plan of the UP administration to push for its distorted policies guised with the celebration of UP's centennial as a very convenient and palatable excuse. It is, indeed, part of a larger government scheme, as ascribed in the Long-Term Higher Education Development Plan 2001-2010 (LTHEDP 2001-2010), of furthering the decrease in state subsidies and transforming all its state universities into self-sustaining semi-private institutions by selling its assets and raising tuition. All to the detriment of the Filipino youth, most of whom can barely afford the present cost of tertiary education in UP and other state universities; and to the disadvantage of the Filipino people such institutions claim to serve.

(Originally posted here. January 30, 2008)

Last December 19, 2007, Senate Bill No. 1964, otherwise known as the Pangilinan-sponsored Act to amend the University of the Philippines Charter, was approved in the Senate. It seeks to replace the century-old charter of the country's premiere state university to "avert the declining competitiveness of UP education." Granted, the university's charter is indeed archaic and is in need of amendments in order to effectively perform its role as the country's premiere state university. However, the present bill, sponsored by Senator Francis Pangilinan, at large, includes provisions that some of us believe will further institutionalize the present Board of Regents' undemocratic governance of the university and further alienate majority of Filipinos from democratic access to UP education. [You may download this .doc file for a more detailed matrix of the contented provisions and the corresponding amendment proposals].



Last Monday, January 28, 2007, as both the Congress and the Senate resume session after their holiday breaks, bicameral conferences were held in the Senate to finalize and pass the government's priority bills. One of which, is the new UP Charter.



Through the lobbying of students, alumni, faculty and staff who compose UP WIDEM 3 (UP Wide Democratization Movement), and through the assistance of Senator Ana Consuelo "Jamby" Madrigal, we were able to insert several revisions and amendments into the Charter through the deliberations that were held the past months, despite harsh objections from the UP administration and its student stalwarts. These amendments shall at very least try to protect what we believe should be the real character and nature of UP as the country's premiere state university that shall serve the greater interest of the Filipino people. Aside from such, there are more provisions that we seek to see passed with the new UP Charter. Such provisions rests on two principles; the principle of democratic governance at all levels in the university through consultation and collective decision-making that will ensure the effective participation of UP’s faculty, REPS, administrative staff and students; and the principle of democratic access to a UP education by maintaining the status of the University of the Philippines as a public institution of higher learning that aims to provide affordable quality education for Filipinos.



(Funny how the word state in "state university" has repeatedly and altogether been replaced with the word national in the new UP Charter as if to detach the institution from the state's responsibility. It's quite telling of the original bill's real and subliminal intentions.)



Despite our lobbying efforts, the possibility that the bicameral conference pass the original Pangilinan-sponsored bill without our proposed amendments, is always present. Which is why, last Monday, more than a hundred students from UP Diliman and UP Manila went to the Senate to register our sentiments and to insist on the provisions we seek to be seen through as the new UP Charter is passed.

To be continued...

(Originally posted here. January 30, 2008)

After having lunch with everyone in the production, we went shooting some footage along C.M. Recto. There were still a lot of cops around--good thing we didn't get into trouble for having a bulky camera around. After waiting for some friends to join us and help, we proceeded to Quezon Boulevard and shot some police chase scene.

I was trying to edit the sequence yesterday, and it really made me feel that we didn't shoot enough. I've talked to my thesis partner and we decided to re-shoot this sequence. The stills look okay, though.

(Originally posted here. January 29, 2008)

The day went by quite quickly. Since all our shots that day were outdoors, we didn't have any artificial lighting, thus it was easy to shoot and move around. That proved to be quite an advantage when you're not totally in control of your environment. For example, since we had a protest rally sequence, we coincided our first shooting day with an actual Mendiola rally (instead of staging/faking our own), which on that day was a commemoration of First Quarter Storm. We were, however, not able to schedule our shoot correctly so we had to rush and shoot everything we can before the protest action ended.

We encountered some problems with the Manila Police, too, but everything was settled eventually. There's an inconsistency with our actors' police uniforms, I don't know if people will notice.

(Originally posted here. January 29, 2008)

First shooting day last Saturday, January 26, 2008, went okay. It's been two days but there's still a nagging feeling that suggests I am not entirely satisfied with the shots. I think we're going to call for an additional shooting day to shoot more footage or re-shoot altogether. All our locations were outdoors and semi-guerilla.

Our first location was at the Manila North Cemetery. Aside from the usual crowds who watch and make distracting noise, we didn't encounter much problems.

(Originally posted here. January 27, 2008)

It's my first official long-run. Though, signing up for a five-kilometer run doesn't seem long enough for some, it was for me just the right first-time experience. My other brods were running the ten-kilometer, twenty-one and the full marathon.

My running partner and I were running at our own pace, enjoying the crisp morning air, and taking in the scenery. A few hundred meters into the run, however, we approached a fork in the road. I couldn't understand what the man directing the runners where to go, was saying. I thought to myself, nakakahiya naman kung 'yung mga bata 'yung sundan namin. Instead of following the little school kids, we followed the police academy cadets who were chanting throughout their run.

It turned out to be a pleasant mistake as we ended up running the 10 kilometer route! Since we weren't psyched to run ten kilometers, we couldn't sustain our pace, so we slowed down and walked quite a number of times throughout the course. We reached the finish line after more than an hour and forty minutes. I don't really know how runs are gauged to say if it was an okay time. It seemed okay to me.

After cooling down at the track oval for around an hour, we proceeded to have an early lunch at a steak house within the freeport. We drove around Subic for a while after lunch, before heading back to our brod's quarters in Binictican Heights. After napping a bit, we spent a couple of hours watching boxing and sumo wrestling over some chips and beer before heading back home to Manila.

All along, I was avoiding my parents' phone calls as I didn't know how to explain the car accident verbally.

On Sunday, after just two to three hours of sleep, we were forced to get up and head over to the starting line of the Subic Marathon. Anyway, I was driving from Binictican Heights to the track oval where everyone was supposed to assemble. I was following two cars in front of me, one being driven by a brod, the other I didn't really know but was definitely on its way to the marathon starting line too.

Suddenly, the two vehicles in front of me swerved to the right as if to avoid something. It wasn't soon enough that I realized there was an approaching motorcycle coming right at us. I don't know if it was because I hadn't had enough sleep but I really thought it was simply a vehicle in front of me running the same direction. In a split-second before we had a head-on collision, I made a realization of what was about to happen and quickly swerved to the right. It wasn't a head-on collision, thank heavens. Instead, I smashed the car's left side and amputated the entire driver's side mirror and shattered the glass into numerous pieces that came flying right at us inside the car (our windows were rolled down).

Shit, how was I going to explain it to my parents. I didn't even inform them I had gone all the way to Subic. There was absolutely no sign that warned incoming vehicles that the road was now on counter-flow because of the marathon!! I was dead. I pulled over the side of the road and stared blankly at the wreck. I was dead. I tried to laugh the incident off but I couldn't. How the hell was I to explain to my parents that I smashed part of the car in Subic, Zambales?!

There are some things I could be thankful for. One, it wasn't a head-on collision. Two, our windows were rolled down, so though the side mirror was smashed and amputated, the side windows weren't. Three, though the windows were rolled down and the pieces of glass and fiberglass flew in, none of them hit vital parts of our body. Four, the though some of the microscopic pieces of glass wounded my body, none of it entered my eyes.

Terribly worried and bothered as I was, we proceeded to the starting line. We were almost late for the race. The run started exactly the time when we reached the starting point.

(Originally posted here. January 25, 2008)

Last weekend, I drove all the way to Subic with some of my brods to participate in the Subic International Marathon. After a morning ocular with my thesis partner and some of our production crew at our various locations in Manila, I headed over to meet my brods in Katipunan before driving all the way to Subic in Zambales. It's by far, the farthest drive I've had from Manila. It was quite a pleasant road trip, if you ask me. Never mind if I barely remember how to get to Subic. Following the road signs was enough.

After almost three hours, we arrived in Subic Bay Freeport at around 8 in the evening. Before having dinner, we spent an hour or so at the outlet stores looking at running shoes. It was half past nine in the evening when we decided to have dinner. We decided to cross the canal out of the Freeport and have a night out in Olongapo. Hehe.

It wasn't much of a night out. Hey, we were running early the next day so we decided to tame it. After having dinner and strolling and driving around Olongapo, we decided to go back to Subic and call it a night. We stayed at another brod's place in Binictican Heights, a former residential area for American personnel when the area was still one of the Americans' largest overseas military bases. Some other elder brods stayed with us too. We actually slept quite late already. The runners' call time the next day was at 5 AM.

The past days, I've prematurely been receiving tips that the entrance exam results of UP Law School are out, although they haven't been posted at Malcolm Hall yet. I tried to confirm it, but couldn't find any list, so I just shrugged them off as rumors of anxiety. Early yesterday morning, a flood of messages of congratulations came through SMS. Indeed, a list of passers were finally posted at UP Law, and fortunately, I was in it.

I can't adequately explain how grateful and relieved I felt when I heard of the news. Prior to the release of the results, I didn't know what to do or how to plan my life after undergraduate graduation. And that has caused me some anxiety for some time now. Well, the exam results don't completely ensure one's admission. Now, there are the dreaded interviews to prepare for and worry about. Apparently, everyone in the list has to go through the interviews, as opposed to granting direct admission to the top passers. Only around 200 out of the 300 passers will be granted admission to UP Law after the interviews.

Congratulations to everyone else who passed! There were familiar names and friends on the list. I hope we all eventually see each other in Malcolm Hall.

(Originally posted here. January 21, 2008)



Last Saturday morning, together with my thesis partner and some of our production people, we went to do an ocular on some of our locations for our first shooting day this coming Saturday.

The officers in charge of the Manila North Cemetery initially didn't allow us to enter, which was odd since ordinary people, and informal settlers just freely moved in, out and around the cemetery. They even asked us for money to allow us to just look at the place.

After visiting the cemetery, we had fastfood lunch, then we proceeded to a Quezon City police station along EDSA, then to UP Diliman.

I'm quite apprehensive about the whole thing. I hope all things work out this Saturday.

{Originally posted here. January 19, 2008). This time of the year, graduating film students are busy working on their theses, including me, of course. At the beginning of the semester, even during thesis proposal phase, I wasn't too hyped up about it. I think I was even more excited when I helped out on a handful of thesis short films when I was a freshman, than when I'm actually doing it myself now that I'm a senior. I've shared something about this already, in this entry, where I said I sort of lost a passion in creating moving pictures.



Needless to say, right now, almost all of my film friends are busy with their own theses. Sigh. You know, there's something uniquely engaging in film students' theses. I'm not sure how thesis are exactly done in other courses, but I assume it's largely an individual or a pair effort. In film, however, unless you're doing an animation, an experimental of some sort or a written thesis, you will barely survive if you work alone or by pair, even. A graduating film student actually works on a number of theses, in varying degrees, for his fellow film friends. Well, unless you're an absolute altruist, there's this slight expectation that your film friends and other friends will help you out in your own thesis, as your production manager, your director of photography, your casting director, assistant director, production assistant, even as talent. Most of the time, all the work is pro bono, but it's not the material return that's important. Shooting film students' thesis can be quite fun, aside from being stressful.

That's just the shooting part. There's still, also, the pre-production, post-production and the research and written thesis phase. Anyway, good luck, fellow film friends!



These pictures were taken last Wednesday. I was also trying out a relatively cheap / bottom-of-the-line zoom lens I acquired a few days beforehand. The pictures below are from an UP MCO members-applicants' acquaintance gathering in Mass Comm last January 14. I wasn't expecting myself to be able to attend because I was on an ocular trip in Manila, but turns out it was still going on when I got back to UP so I decided to drop by.

Before hopping on the LRT back to Recto, I decided to give in to my hunger pangs and ate at one of the eateries under the Blumentritt Station. I hadn't eaten lunch yet, and it was past 4 in the afternoon. This young boy was looking at me while I was eating my tapsilog. I was too famished to be too generous. I gave him half of a sandwich instead.



After eating, it was just a short half-an-hour trip back to UP Diliman for me. From LRT Blumentritt Station, I got off at Doroteo Jose, then transfered to LRT Line 2 at Recto all the way to Katipunan where I rode a jeepney to Mass Comm. I was exhausted but it felt like a nice spontaneous walking trip for me. I should do it again and discover something new.

Continued from here. Soon enough I found myself along Avenida Rizal where I was supposed to get on a train to Manila North Cemetery. Since I had no idea where exactly to alight nearest to my destintion, I swallowed my shallow pride and asked for directions. The ticket teller at the LRT told me to get off at R. Papa Station to get to the cemetery. Because as I've said earlier, I'd rather get lost than ask for directions another time, I didn't bother to confirm if I was going the right way for fear of looking like a camera-toting tourist.

When I got to R. Papa I had already felt uneasy as I knew it was too near the end of the LRT line in Monumento, Caloocan. True enough, I was surprised that the cemetery looked like a city of Chinese shrines and all the mausoleums looked like small Chinese temples. Apparently the ticket teller thought I wanted to get to the Chinese Cemetery instead of the Manila North Cemetery. By then, I conceded and finally asked for more directions. I eventually got on a jeepney to Blumentritt. Since it was getting too hot and I was getting exhausted, I didn't mind that I kept asking if I was going the right way. After walking the entire length of Blumentritt, I eventually found myself at the Manila North Cemetery.

I didn't bother taking photos anymore, however. I was thinking of strolling around the cemetery to scout for a nice spot to shoot. Lest I forget, the North Cemetery is one of the largest cemeteries in the country. It even has a system of tricycles to transport people around. After speaking with the officers in charge, I walked all the way back the length of Blumentritt to Rizal Avenue.

Continued from here. It wasn't long before I reached the intersection of Quezon Boulevard and C.M. Recto Avenue. It was the first time I found out that there was a pedestrian underpass along Quezon Boulevard that crosses Recto and Quezon Boulevard itself. The underpass is similar to the Lacson Underpass in Quiapo, but this one's lined with garment and tailoring shops.

Continued from here. I guess it was because I felt like I had time to spare, and because I simply enjoy walking like that, that I decided to walk all the way from Mendiola to Avenida Rizal to ride another train to Manila North Cemetery. I don't know if that's really the most efficient way of getting there, but when I looked at the map, it seemed to me so.

Let me tell you a quirk of mine. I don't like asking for directions. I hate looking like a tourist by asking for directions. I'd rather look at a map myself and get lost than ask for directions. If I do, I'd do it once and then I'd rather get lost than ask another time. It's a weird sort of pride. I'll tell you more about this quirk later.



Anyway, I've always wondered how it feels like to study in a college or university in the middle of all this hustle and bustle, as opposed to the relative tranquility and foliage in Diliman. Recto Avenue, is of course, aside from shops of all sorts, is lined with schools, colleges and universities, hence it's part of what people refer to as Manila's university belt.

To be continued. Click here for more pictures.

I went to Manila yesterday afternoon to observe possible locations for some scenes for our thesis short film, and to take pictures to help our cinematographer visualize the project. I had Mendiola and Manila North Cemetery in mind. I was able to do that, but I also ended up leisurely strolling along Recto and then along Blumentritt on my way to the cemetery and taking random photos along the way.



Because driving seemed to be more of a hassle for me, I decided to leave the car in UP, hopped on a jeep to Katipunan and rode the LRT to Legarda. Got down the station and took a couple of pictures at Mendiola. I've actually been to Mendiola more times in rallies than otherwise. It's quite interesting when you try to observe it when everything seems like a normal daily routine to everyone else.



More often than not, rallies are blocked by police on the usual way to Mendiola--through C.M. Recto--so Legarda Street is often the alternative route (which also gets blocked, nonetheless).





To be continued. Click here for more pictures.

In this round-up, one is an Australian production, the other a classic Hollywood flick, and the last one a Filipino film. I saw December Boys at home, The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit in media ethics class, and Desperadas, at the cinemas--all last, last week.

( Read More )

I sort of got this idea from Estanli Cabigas' Rough Groove blog. I enjoy watching movies, and as much as I would like to write lengthily on what I think about each film I watch, I usually don't have the time. So, I've decided that for every three films I see this year, I'll do a round-up with short comments on what I liked or disliked about the film. This is also to keep track on what I see for the entire year.



I saw all three of these at home, during the holidays, just before school started for the year. One is a Hollywood film, the two others are from South Korea.

( Read More )

[Actually, hindi ako kasama noong People Power 2]. I am honestly ashamed to remember what I was doing during People Power 2, because I was exactly the type of person back then that I detest today--a prude conservative who refused to join the urban middle-class disruption that was brewing, even in our sheltered Ateneo High School. I honestly can't stomach the things I've written in my "online journal" back then, hence they're not available in my blog's present archives.

Back then, it became quite fashionable among Ateneans to be joining all those walk-outs and indoor rallies. I refused to believe that my classmates, and most other rich kids in my high school for that matter, knew what they were doing, and I thought it was all just a fashionable lynch mob at the covered courts endorsed even by the entire faculty at that time. I was confident that all along, my schoolmates simply thought it was so cool that we had faculty-endorsed free cuts.

Back then, I (already) really disliked Vice-President Gloria Arroyo so much, I would rather that President Estrada stayed in Malacanang than have him replaced with that woman and everyone else who surrounded her. (Boy, what an ominous gut feel).

Back then, I was aware that I didn't know enough to condemn President Estrada as guilty, so I just stayed home. (Not that I would be allowed to join rallies, anyway).

Back then, probably because Loyola Heights and my home were the only environments I was exposed to, and simply because I was just a first-year high school student, I was naive enough to actually subscribe to administration propaganda. I felt like the rallies were all just an elite, middle-class uprising, void of support from the wide masses who adored the President.

Tangina, nakakahiya. Naging ganyan talaga ako noon. And right now, I feel like I have switched places with my peers. Those people who questioned me (and there were quite a handful) for not joining the rallies in Ateneo are the ones who refuse to join the present rallies to demand that President Arroyo, who has obviously turned out to be terribly worse, to step down and be accountable for all her crimes. Funny, because they use, more or less, the same reasons I used to have back then. My God, what a paradigm shift.

These make me say that there really are some things I don't understand with some people. With conditions and scandals so much worse now than during President Estrada's term, what made them join the fury and the mob back then but cannot compel them to do the same now? Hay, how weird some people can get.
***
Seven years — yes, seven years — have passed since the four days that redefined People Power culminated in the ouster of the president with the biggest electoral mandate in Philippine history and we in Bloggers Kapihan invite you to remember. Just write about your People Power 2 experiences, post memorabilia like photos and videos. Simply put, we want you to act by picking up a pen or going to the computer to tell your story, your version of what happened on Jan. 16-20 and your dreams for the country.

Others for instance, may choose to fast forward to 2008 and assess what has happened to the country seven years since People Power 2. Were we betrayed? Were our efforts wasted by some persons who benefited from it? Is it a national failure, or a warning that a similar fate may befall the incumbent?

To make this all worthwhile and useful to ourselves and the world, BK will open a special website at http://peoplepower2.bloggerskapihan.com (please don’t forget to link to it and this post) where we will put your posts and feature the really good ones. Let this be our humble contribution to reviving our pride in ourselves as a people, and to inspiring all of us never to lose hope for the only country we can call our own.

Don’t let others to rewrite People Power 2 as if it meant nothing. We made history in 2001 and now’s a good time to remember and to write it the way we saw and see it.