OCTOBER 28-NOVEMBER 4, 2018

Apparently this week is considered as our short vacation due to consecutive

special holidays. All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day are important days in many
Catholic countries. As the Philippines is the world’s third largest Catholic country,
the country celebrates it with gusto. Traditionally, people come home to their
provinces to spend these holidays with their loved ones. But aside from the
purpose of these events, it also becomes the time for family bonding and reunions.
My original plan was to really go home to our province too but I wasn’t able due to
a school requirement. I was actually sad because I was expecting this vacation to
be my rest days but since the requirement would be our finals too, I decided to stay
here.

While staying here in Manila, I had observed that the number of people really
decrease to its normal volume. I think many went to province while others went to
cemetery. There were less traffic from the highways of EDSA and the busy streets of
Manila were quite dull this time. I also ride the LRT train and it was very spacious.
You can actually sit anywhere you want. It is also noticeable that many stores were
closed. Even though I wasn’t able to celebrate this time with my family, I was still
happy that I had this time to observe Manila in its peaceful state. I also went to
church and there are lots of people praying too. I think Filipino culture about Undas
is still the same. They still value this time to pay respect to their dead loved ones.
 NOVEMBER 17- NOVEMBER 22, 2018

Social Issue #1: There is news about prioritization of ending the Bilibid Drug
Trade here in our country this week. Since the issue is quiet controversial for me, I
search some details about it. We all know that the Duterte administration is supporting
the anti-drugs campaign and according to Inquirer.net, 70 percent of illegal drugs
circulating in the country are from the Bilibid prison. Imagine that! The prison cells
where in fact a place where prisoners should be paying for their consequences,
meditating with their sins are actually the den of drug trade. It angers me that the media
made it look like positive news. Yes, it might be somehow positive that they are now
making a move on stopping the drug trade in our country but I am always thinking about
that things like this shouldn’t be in the news in the first place because it should not have
happened and must not be happening in our country anyways. News like this is very
cringe-worthy!
 Social Issue #2: So for this week’s journal, I want to tell what happened to our
safety drill. There was a fire and earthquake drill in FEU and at that time we have our
CASE course class but since everyone is included in the drill, we cut our class
discussion. We did the “drop, cover and hold” practice and went to FEU grounds. It was
actually a hassle for me since we were at the 8 th floor of Tech building and we are not
allowed to use the elevators. So we practically went down the stairs from 8 th floor and it
was very tiring. When we came to the FEU ground, I noticed that most students are
complaining because we are all under the heated sun. There were group of fireman that
taught us proper things to do in case incidents like this really happen. In over all, the drill
was very informative but I just hope that the instructions are really applied in real life. As
I noticed in the news, proper measures are not really happening in the exact incident,
maybe because panic attacks most of the people and they decide without properly
thinking. But of course, it is still good to have knowledge on what to do, at least
everyone is aware.
 NOVEMBER 25- December 01, 2018

This week’s highlight is the seminar I attended about HIV Awareness. I

believe it is a social issue everyone must be aware. There are a lot of
misconceptions about HIV and there is a stigma affiliated to this. The seminar
actually went light and approachable compared to what I expected that the
seminar would be very serious since the topic is kind of taboo. I know that issues
like this are not really accepted in our society especially here in the Philippines.
To be honest, I only attended the seminar because of our WRP lecture but,
afterwards, I was grateful I attended the seminar. I learned a lot of things and at
least now, I already have knowledge about this issue. I was alone in the seminar
so I practically just observed other students. I like how the conversation went
between the students and guest speakers. They were very open to us and they
don’t hold back when talking about sensitive issues related to the topic. They
also make sure that their listeners are engaged to the conversation and maybe
that was the reason why it was not boring. Most students are active the entire
seminar and we all laughed when there are green jokes too.

So I learned that HIV is not really contagious by a mere physical contact

and can only infect if you had a sexual intercourse with them. The speakers
established the fact that we should never judge a person who is clinically
diagnosed with HIV. Moreover, this disease is not just for homosexuals.
Everyone can have HIV disease especially if someone is not really careful with
their actions. It’s just sad because there is really no functional cure to this
disease, only medications. The whole seminar was very informative. I really like
that our university is very diverse, we respect the LGBTQ community a lot and
accept the differences of every individuals.
 DECEMBER 02- DECEMBER 08, 2018

Social Issue #1: The news about Bong Revilla’s acquittal to his plunder case for
the pork barrel scam is very alarming for me. I believe there were really enough
evidences to sustain the claim that he is an accomplice in plundering the funds of our
government that should have been used to projects that will help improve our society. I
am sad to what is happening to our country’s justice system. Even though this case is
already old, we should still watch the process carefully because it was a very big social
problem. To know that our current elected officials are now slowly escaping their sins is
so frustrating. We should never turn a blind eye with this issue but media is doing a
good job converting our attentions to nonsensical dramas from the important news that
we should know. I don’t know if they are paid or what but I really believe that there is a
black propaganda behind the cameras and they only choose what they want to see us.

Social Issue #2: I heard the news about the series of accidents that happened in
the streets of Manila in just one night. Students like us need not only to be careful but
we should be very vigilant too. Last December 4, there was a commotion in our group
chat because of unexpected happenings in the street corners of UST. The details might
not be true about the accidents but the fact that the victims were all students is quiet
scary. From what I knew, the first incident is the girls who were kidnapped and I suspect
will be used for human trafficking. The second was the victim of a riding in tandem. The
third was a student who took suicide. This was all dangerous and scary. I can only hope
that it will never happen to me and to other students as well.