May 11, 2015

MS. MARIA JOELYCA SESCON

Chairperson,
Kabataang Lakas para sa Bayan Lihok Mag-aaram

Ms. Sescon,
This letter is in response to the letter you sent, addressed to Prof. Maria Zenia Mariveles; Coordinator of
the Colleges Office of Student Affairs (OSA) to which our office was furnished a copy. We consider your
letter prepared and sent to us on May 11, 2015, Monday as the letter you sent bears no date contrary
how letters are supposed to be written.
Contained in your letter is a spate of instances to which you hold as bases for your abrupt and
undiplomatic decision to not participate in the Mudslinging Debate to be held on May 12, 2015,
Tuesday. To shed light on the rather malicious claims you cited in your letter, may we first provide your
good self with the facts regarding the event, the members of the publications office, and the institution
itself.
1.
Kalayaan-LM was not given the opportunity to properly meet with these
organizers to clarify and agree upon the mechanics of these programs.

In the aforementioned claim stated on your letter, may we please bring to your memory that the
Mudslinging Debate was declared to be part of the activities in this years Student Council Elections
through a posting by this years SC Electoral Board chaired by Prof. Maria Zenia Mariveles as early as
April 28, 2015. Also, on May 5, 2015 Vista conducted an orientation for the debate for both parties. Both
instances and the lapse of the time provided thereof afforded yourself and the party you lead the chance
to clarify questions and even to raise objections not only regarding the mechanics but of the whole
Mudslinging Debate itself. Therefore, we deem your intention of raising your reservations regarding
the event at this point of time a day before the actual debate, malicious and a sheer attempt to
sabotage the event we have been preparing for the past month.
2.
Furthermore, it has come to our attention that some of the members of
the UP Vista and the UPTDS have been affiliates of organizations
identified with Pulso han Mag-aaram (PULSO), such as the League of
Filipino Students (LFS), GABRIELA Youth, Center for Nationalist Studies
(CNS), and Kabataan Partylist.

For this piece, may we inform your good self that the Office of the Student Publications does not disallow
its editors and staff to enter membership in student organizations inside and outside the College.

EMAIL: upvista.1986@gmail.com | FACEBOOK: /upvistaonline | TWITTER: @UPVISTA

Even so, the organizations you have mentioned partake in popular social movements and brings along
with them issues that concerns the sector of youth and students. In line with this, we are more than proud
with our editors and staff who are also members of these organizations for they are obviously not
apathetic and are actively educating the masses of students regarding the burning issues of society.
Further, may we educate your good self that the editors and staff who are incidentally members of the
organizations you mentioned do not hold monopoly of ideas and decision-making inside the institution?
Vista could have ceased its existence had it not been for its unique organizational dynamics of
democracy among its members. Conversely, this dynamic ensures balance and fairness in the story it
publishes, and fairness in activities it organizes. Lastly, the Editorial Board and the Editorial Board alone
reserves the right for any action it will do be it election time or not. Your partys flimsy whims of a
statement of neutrality are yet to be in the sphere of our priorities.
Finally, organizers of an event and not the participants do the organizing. For the information of your good
self and your party, the Office of the Student Publications, UP Vista as what its name suggests is an
institution within the college, which has been carrying out the mandate of the UP Tacloban studentry for
almost 30 years and will not heed to the implausible fads of a 7 year-old political party. Ample time was
afforded to your party regarding your reservations, and we believe that it is more than enough for an able
person to discern decisions for such simple yet important matters.
Kalayaan-LM refuses to join in any of these programs, in the interest of
healthier and more balanced intellectual discourses for the students of
UPVTC.
We believe that it i s bluntly not for the interest of a healthier and more balanced discourse that you
refuse to abruptly declare non-adherence to the debate, but an outright attempt to sabotage the
institutions Mudslinging Debate. The pure intention of the activity is to inform the students beyond the
presented facts of both parties, countercheck those, and provide all Iskolar ng Bayan the direct contrast
and comparison of the parties platform and politics. Therefore, we leave it to your good self and the party
you represent, the decision whether to take part or not in the Mudslinging Debate. However, may we
assure you that aside from this communication, we will take further action within the bounds of this years
SC Elections regarding this brazen affront to Vista.
In line with the fact that the Mudslinging Debate will be conducted tomorrow, we are giving you 3 hours
upon receipt of this letter for your response.

Sincerely yours,

EDILBERTO M. DINEROS, III

Editor in Chief
UP Vista

EMAIL: upvista.1986@gmail.com | FACEBOOK: /upvistaonline | TWITTER: @UPVISTA