Memo # 05: Contact Numbers

To: All Councilors, UPVCC-SC
From: The Chairperson
Re: Contact Information

Warm Greetings!

The contact information of the councilors and secretariat members for the newly constituted college student council is as follows:

Karlo Mikhail Mongaya
Chairperson
09266731480
karlo_mikhail@yahoo.com.ph

Gian Enefctana
Vice-chairperson
09212236963
gian_xxx@yahoo.com

Charto Tan
UPV-USC rep.
09208937420
chariisme@hotmail.com

Gayle Opsma
UPV-USC rep.
09192336037
gayleopsima@yahoo.com

Jenno Gacasan
Fine Arts rep.
09207950918
taga_up_ko@yahoo.com

Hope Tilog
Fine Arts rep.
09279497249
hope_upls@yahoo.com

Ralph Sanchez
2nd Year rep.
09205918452
ralph2345ph@yahoo.com

Heno Rey Chin
2nd Year rep.
09176951835
heno_7@yahoo.com

Stacey Kaye Cardoso
3rd Year rep.
09206531658
czimon@yahoo.com

Phoebeth Peras
3rd Year rep.
09196398477
betch_17@yahoo.com

Genry Gabyan
4th Year rep.
09194528801
genryØØ@yahoo.com

Marinel Velmonte
4th Year rep.
09213773303
velmonte_15@yahoo.com

Maria Girly Patigdas
Secretary General
09215749455

John Patrick Cabrera
Deputy Sec. for Finance
09223852624
ku_shuriken@yahoo.com

Cindy Baguio
Deputy Sec. for Logistics
09268381707

Francis Infiesto
Deputy Sec. for Records
09102116381

Doyle Belluga
Deputy Sec. for Admin.
09214001786

I hope this will be of help for the efficient functioning and coordination of all SC members and expedient information dissemination.

Thank you.

Karlo Mikhail Mongaya
Chairperson

Memo # 04: The Tasks of the Student Council

To: All Councilors, UPVCC-SC
From: The Chairperson
Re: General Assembly

The Tasks of the Student Council for the Vacation Break

In approaching the salient question of our essential tasks for this coming summer vacation, it is important that we understand the seriousness of our vocation for the advancement of democratic rights in the UP community. Indeed, we should be responsive to the objective needs and interests of our constituents. To do so require ample time to consciously plan and rapidly take steps to concretely answer and surmount any challenge that we will inevitably face throughout the year.

The vacation provides us the occasion to prepare for the coming academic year. Let us take advantage of the relatively greater time given by the summer break to lay down the general direction of our term and draw up corresponding plans that are both tangible and specific.

From our last General Assembly for the academic year 05-06 we have, through consensus, designated committee assignments, established summer schedules, updated ourselves on the alarming wave of human rights violations draping the country today, and adopted a resolution defining our stand against “the proposals to make the Reserved Officer Training Corps or ROTC mandatory among all students.”

Let me present our tentative schedules for the summer and committee assignments as discussed during our most recent meeting last March 27, 2006:

April 22
Earth Day Eco-Forum
(Co-organized with the Maharlika Artists Federation)
UPV Cebu College -AVR

April 23
Globalization & the Workers Situation Forum
(Hosted by SC for People's Globalization Awareness Initiative Network)
UPV Cebu College - Conference Hall

May 1
Participation in International Labor Day Commemoration

May 6
SC Office Cleaning

May 13
Community Immersion

May 23 to 25
KASAMA sa UP
National Council Meeting
UP Diliman

May 28
Leadership Training Seminar

Here are the committees and their respective committee heads:

Executive Committee
Karlo Mikhail Mongaya

Secretariat
Maria Girly Patigdas

Student’s Rights and Welfare Committee
Ralph Sanchez

Student Organizations, Fraternities, and Sororities Committee
Gian Marco Enfectana

Pulse Committee
Genry Gabayan

Ways and Means Committee
Marinel Velmonte

Committee on Culture and Arts
Jenno Gacasan

Environment Desk
Gayle Opsima

Community Rights and Welfare Committee
Stacey Kaye Cardoso

Gender Desk
Heno Rey Chin

Sports Desk
Charito Tan

Education and Research Committee
Phoebeth Peras

Information Desk
Hope Tilog

More waves of anti-student impositions are expected to hit the university in the near future as the deepening crisis afflicting our backward, agricultural, and foreign dominated society aggravates the commercialized and repressive character of Philippine education.

We must unite firmly to carry out our tasks for the purpose of carrying forward the student’s battle for democratic reforms within the UP community and link these struggles to the people’s movement for a just, democratic, and independent Philippine society.

Let us as much as possible devote our- selves to serving the people and exert the utmost effort to lead the students in such an endeavor.

Karlo Mikhail Mongaya
Chairperson

Resolution against ROTC

RESOLUTION NUMBER 1 SERIES OF 2006-2007

A RESOLUTION OPPOSING THE PROPOSALS TO MAKE THE RESERVED OFFICER TRAINING CORPS OR ROTC MANDATORY AMONG ALL STUDENTS

Whereas, the ROTC, instead of teaching and upholding discipline, runs counter to the student’s right to freedom of speech by spreading a culture of silence as encapsulated in the military dictum that states “what you see, what you hear, when you go, leave it here;”

Whereas, the ROTC, in direct contradiction to our constitutional right to organize, carries a big role in the military’s setting up of the Student Intelligence Network (SIN) which conducts surveillance and other intelligence operations against progressive student organizations, publications, and councils;

Whereas, the ROTC course, at a time of extreme economic hardship and crisis, burdens the students with added fees, not only for matriculation but also for a complete set of uniform, including combat boots, beret/cap, patches, etc, handouts and manuals - the lack of which is a ground for demerit against the student concerned;

Whereas, the ROTC program with mandatory courses in Military Training Service (MTS) is physically demanding for the UP students who will also have to carry the burden of a tightened four-day class week;

Whereas, the ROTC, contrary to its stated aim of promoting patriotism, runs counter to the foundations of nationalism in the university, namely critical thought and academic freedom by maintaining a culture of harassment and repression as expressed in the military motto that says “obey first before you complain;”

Whereas, the ROTC has resulted in the deaths of our fellow youth, who are supposedly the hope of the nation, namely Samuel Rodico of Luna College – Pangansinan in 2002, Mark Welson Chua of the University of Sto. Tomas in 2001, Arthur Salero of Saint Louis University in 1999, Seth Lopez of De La Salle University in 1996, and many more;

Whereas, the ROTC promotes discrimination, harassment and various forms of physical, verbal and sexual abuse especially against women and the third sex;

Whereas, in practice, the program has become obsolete and at the heart of corruption and incompetence;

Whereas, the intentions provided by the proponents of the mandatory ROTC revival, namely the infusion of discipline, patriotism and preparation for national defense was never attained by the program in the first place as it was tainted by the above-stated grounds;

Therefore be it resolved as it is hereby resolved that the UPVCC Student Council initiate moves that will oppose the proposals to make the ROTC mandatory among all students.

Resolved further, that the fight for greater state subsidy for UP and education be intensified as it is only through such that the strengthening and enhancement of the National Service Training Program (NSTP) can come about.

Resolved finally, that the ROTC be totally abolished to pave the way for a National Service Program that will truly become the expression of nationalism, discipline and social responsibility through activities such as rescue and relief operations, human rights advocacy and fact-finding missions, community immersion, literacy programs, and environmental protection and awareness, etc.

Adopted this 27^th of March, 2006.

Heno Rey Chin
Year Representative
Proponent

Ralph Sanchez
2nd Year Representative
Co-Proponent

Memo # 03: Lay the Ground for Achieving Greater Victories this Year

To: All Councilors, UPVCC-SC
From: The Chairperson
Re: General Assembly

Lay the Ground for Achieving Greater Victories this Year

The Student Council and the whole studentry of our college are in a position to achieve breakthroughs in 2006 on the basis of the significant advances achieved in 2005 and previous years.

The past year was marked by victories in our struggle against the commercialization of UP where we were and still are made to suffer from skyrocketing sums and various austerity measures due to the government’s continuing neglect of the education sector.

We expect to score major advances in the various fields of service to the students and the people. Let us consciously plan and rapidly take steps to lay the ground for achieving greater victories this year.

The Order of Business for the next meeting is as follows:
1. Approval of Agenda
2. Approval of the Minutes from the Previous Meeting
3. Business Arising from the Previous Meeting
4. Communications
5. Announcements
6. Committee Assignments
7. Setting Summer Schedules
8. Resolution on the Proposed Revival of the ROTC
9. Other Matters

We will have our third and last General Assembly for the academic year 2005-2006 this March 27, 2006 (Monday), 6:00PM at the Student Council Office.

In the service of the students and the people,

Karlo Mikhail Mongaya
Chairperson

Memo# 02

To: All Councilors, UPVCC-SC
From: The Chairperson
Re: General Assembly

Warm Greetings!

The University of the Philippines has never been spared from the problems besetting greater society. If in the national scene we see concerted moves by Arroyo’s regime to crackdown on media and its perceived critics and opponents, locally we see moves for the revival of compulsory ROTC (Reserved Officer Training Corps) as directed by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Department of National Defense (DND).

This of course is nothing new. Suppression has always been the State’s standard response to the undying calls for fundamental social change. It is the desperation of the current administration in a bid to stay in power that led to the current situation of unbridled abuse of the people’s basic rights and civil liberties. This is despite questions to its legitimacy and capacity to effectively represent the real interests of the broad masses.

Let us therefore provide the necessary precautions against the return of a program that epitomizes not only the repressive character of education but its commercialized and mercenary tradition as well. Let us initiate the broadest principled unity to defy intensifying political repression!

The Order of Business for the next meeting is as follows:
1. Approval of Agenda
2. Approval of the Minutes from the Previous Meeting
3. Business Arising from the Previous Meeting
4. Communications
5. Announcements
6. Appointment of Secretariat
7. House Rules
8. On the Revival of Mandatory ROTC (Reserved Officer Training Program)
9. Other Matters

We will have our second General Assembly, 6:00 PM this March 14, 2006 (Tuesday) at the Student Council Office. Please come on time.

In the advancement of genuine freedom and democracy,

Karlo Mikhail Mongaya
Chairperson

Memo # 01

To: All Incoming Councilors, UPVCC-SC

From: The Chairperson
Re: First General Assembly

Warm Greetings!

The sword of Damocles hanging over our heads was not at all removed with the lifting of Presidential Proclamation 1017. The crackdown on Gloria’s opponents and the assault on the freedom of expression and right to assemble did not at all end with the removal of the dictatorial measure.

In the context of the Arroyo administration’s systematic abandonment of the education sector and the unprecedented attacks on civil liberties to stifle all opposition to the regime’s anti-people policies, there is a need to wield the sharpest line in advancing the student’s democratic rights and interests.

Let us stand firm in another dark period of unbridled political repression and wield the weapons of critical thought and collective action. Twenty years after the ouster of Marcos, the challenge is upon us to relive, and not only remember the lessons of EDSA.

To this end, we will hold our First General Assembly, 6:30 PM this March 7, 2006 (Tuesday) at the Student Council Office. The meeting, a day before the official commencement of our term, is intended to tackle our initial plans for the next few weeks.

While the incoming UPV-USC councilors will have to wait till June for their terms to start, they are still invited to observe the College-SC General Assembly with the incumbent UPV-USC councilors.

The Order of Business is as follows:
1. Call to Order
2. Approval of Agenda
3. Communications
4. Announcements
5. Brief Intro. & Presentation of Expectations
6. Setting of Schedules of GAs for the Next Semester
7. On the Mov't. of Concerned Citizens for Civil Liberties
8. Setting of Schedule for Next GA
9. Other Matters

In the service of the students and the people,

Karlo Mikhail Mongaya
Chairperson