Altruism of Gratitude

Under Act No.1870, the Governor General authorized that “[w]ithin the powers and limitations herein specified, to establish in the City of Manila, or at the point he may deem most convenient, a University which shall be known by the designation of University of the Philippines, the same being organized as a corporation under that name.” When our academia was instituted during the early decades of the American regime, the intent was to train a core of Filipino professionals for colonial bureaucracy. At the moment, it is something else. The name UP has been compromised for personal gains, not for an altruistic toil in our administrative system.

The institution has today flourished into a university system with seven constituent universities located in twelve campuses around the country. Last April 29, 2008, it had been proclaimed as the national university. From this purpose in Act No. 1870, “to provide advanced instruction in literature, philosophy, the sciences, the arts, and to give professional and technical training,” it now shines under the 2007 UP Charter limelight with purposes of “the search for truth and knowledge as well as the development of future leaders.”

The university has undoubtedly accomplished its mission regarding the advanced inventiveness of its educational qualification instructions in literature, philosophy, sciences, and arts, and the provision of professional and technical training to its students. But the rationale of the search for truth and knowledge and development of future leaders is another matter of consideration. It did not take long to realize that the increasing UP alumni had less and less preference to public service as their career destinations. Some private companies like Unilever and Procter and Gamble have been aliased UP Republic. With their continuing symposia, leadership trainings, and most importantly job openings for our students, it not unlikely that after conducting classes in rooms sponsored by these companies, we go directly to their offices and acquire relatively good cash after graduation. On the other hand, momentary BPO employments considered stepping stone jobs, are eating up a great number of potentials who could have reversed the political scenario of the Philippines. There are a good number of alumni who have made it to high-ranking seats in the Congress or Malacañang or Supreme Court; however, a good number has as well been allegedly involved in grand-scale corruptions and other crimes. Hence, it is on our shoulders that the elders had planted the hope of seeing efficient and honest and decent leaders in the years to come by.

They have told us to give back. They have told us to give back to the community, to the university, and to the country that have nurtured us. They have told us to give back without holding back. As scholars of the nation, we have an additional responsibility of strengthening the hallmark of gratitude to the government and the people who religiously pay their levies.

According to the National Expenditure Program for 2009 in President Arroyo’s speech to the House of Representatives, the allocated budget for the education sector this year is 189.1B Php. The budget for 112 state universities and colleges (SUCs) is only P22.57 billion ($482.06 million). Almost one-third of this will go to the University of the Philippines (UP) system. Its population of more than 50, 000 will get P6.7 billion ($143.1 million), the biggest budget among SUCs. The Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP), the largest university in terms of student population will only receive P663.64 million ($14.17 million). It has six campuses, two branches and ten extension campuses serving more than 52,000 students. The Philippine Normal University (PNU), the country’s center for teacher education with its four campuses, will only get P282.32 million ($6.03 million).

That the government is subsidizing a great part of our education, we cannot deny. And to pay them back through public service is a customary imbursement. But any Filipino who is sacrificing a portion of his salary can lay the same claim to us. With or without the tuition hike and all, he continues to do so to help put us through school. His taxes and million others’ taxes have invested in us and enabled us to gain the label of an iskolar ng bayan.

Nobody said that the only way to give back to the nation is to work in government offices and produce communal service. We can be in the academe and infuse what knowledge we have acquired, to aid in the development of a specialization. Research and scientific investigations are the end-destinations of the theses and dissertations we were required to make in college.

But we can be someone else as well. One who could see the flaws of the general public while enjoying fruits of a hard labor. We can be a chemist in a gargantuan pharmacy and discover a new drug. We can be a big-time host of a business process outsourcing firm and spearhead technological advances for third-world countries. We can be filthy rich and a CEO and attract foreign investors to the Philippines. In any case, we can work in any private company and still think about our society.

The Philippine Diaspora has paralyzed our circumstances. Indisputably, we cannot be blamed if we refuse measly pesos when we could be paid the more-than-enough value of our worth overseas. Going to the other side of the fence for greener pastures is not an antonym of giving back. As long as we add to the labor force which drives the economy of this country, we are not less of a nationalist. The problem is not the type of job we opt after graduation but the substantial amount of productivity we render to the country with whatever salary we are earning. Having a job is good. But keeping it is better. Mediocre performance is not just a mar to the premiere university who nested us for years but a slap on the faces of whoever financed our education until we put on our sablays and receive our diplomas.

Multi-tasking – that is what they teach us and what they teach us well in this university. In whatever job we have, we live up to the expectations and ideals of our alma mater. We ought to give our 110% best effort. But we must remain critical and perceptive of the issues around us. Whether we will be richer or poorer after graduation; helping out slum dogs in Manila or picking fruits in Milan, the University of the Philippines expects no less from us. Wherever we are and no matter what we do, in our simplest means, give back.

WHAT ABOUT THEM

Information Technology has made possible trade without barriers and tremendous economic expansions. But isn’t globalization also the main reason why rich countries have become richer and poor countries gone poorer?

You can check your Facebook account even in the wee hours of the morning. But what about those who have not even seen a computer? You can submit a three-page report on World War II in less than an hour with Wikipedia. But what about those whose only sources of information are tattered pages of a book found in the only shelf of their undersized library? You can hear news of Microsoft resolving the problem of how to dispose all those heaps of cash. But what about those homeless children who do not even wear decent clothes on their backs? You can enjoy the benefits of globalization. But what about them?

Take your country for example. Multinational companies use third world countries like the Philippines for their upstream operations. Production sites in Laguna or Davao or Tarlac manufacture their products because labor here is a hundredfold cheaper. Then the finished products are shipped to another company and then to another and another until you see them in retail stores with price tags unimaginable to those factory workers in the Philippines who worked their behinds off for them. You can see AyalaLand stretched out outside UP or Convergys billboards advertising for easy money or IBM hiring another set of IT team. But you can’t see how the rest of the country is clueless of the wonders of the web and left behind not only in terms of real disposable incomes but also in new developments and paradigm shifts. Yes we are struggling to cope with the rising tigers of Asia, where once we were even on top of them. We are seeking for the best investors that could see potential in our resources – to be able to show the world that we could be as industrialized as anyone of them. But can we really do it by leaving behind those who are not apt to learn new technologies and join the flow of innovation?

A nation is most progressive not because of a million computers, but because of a million citizens literate to use them.

business is not life

They say anything can happen in business. With the new trends in IT that pop up like mushrooms ubiquitously, it is, as they say, impossible to think impossible. When we started discussing how business projects could be evaluated, it seems as simple as inputting whatever necessary data you have to have, press some buttons, and then voila! Now you can easily see where the problem lies and more importantly, how to solve it. Whether you use a very, very, very small level of significance to minimize statistical error or you repackage the whole production and service, it makes you fall on your back and quite loosen up because there is an guarantee that at the end of the day, whatever program you use will improve your system somehow.
Why is there is no such thing as a project evaluation for real life scenarios? That it is feasible to get to the bottom of a mistake because there is a ready program to solve it.
Why is there no such thing as a life evaluation to always keep you on track and make you avoid irregularities? That it is determinable when to continue or pause or eventually stop. I don’t believe that life is business. Neither the other way around. Only in one can you use six sigma or TQM or other evaluation measures. In real life, you won’t know if your messing up already until everything crumbles in front of your very eyes.