my love...mindanao state university

mad over money

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

AS in barya. That’s what most Pinoys have in their pockets at the start of each year — that is, if there is anything there at all. After that bacchanalia that we call our extended Christmas season, we usually face each coming year with full hearts but empty coffers. It does take a few more days for that reality to sink in, but when it finally does…well, some political observers have said that’s why Edsas 1 and 2 were successful.

Money does make many of us mad, as in angry and insane. The lack of it especially drives us to both conditions (although having a surplus of lucre is not necessarily a guarantee that one would always be in control of one’s faculties). A human invention meant to contribute to societal order (by way of assigning a more definite value to goods or services), it has given rise to conflict and violence, even as it helped nations develop and individuals realize their dreams.

British novelist and journalist James Buchan was even moved to observe some 10 years ago, “As a means, I saw that money was almost absolute: it could realize every fantasy of creation or murder. It could even give life, in the sense that hundreds of millions of people would not be alive today — could not be fed — but for the pattern of world trade made possible by money.”

But he also noted, “(At) this moment of extreme abstraction, it was transforming once again: into an absolute end. Money was valued not for its power to fulfill wishes: rather it was a goal of all wishes. Money was enthroned as the god of our times.”

For the next couple of weeks or so, i Report will focus on the pieces of metal and paper that have been said to make the world go ‘round (and Pinoys to go overseas). We will look at some of the effects of having no money, which is the more familiar situation for many Filipinos, and how some people have tried to address or cope with those effects. There will also be stories on people’s attempts to make money, while an expert or two will try to explain things like why many of us feel so poor even as government officials insist that the economy is improving.

It’s time to admit we are mad over money, in more ways than one.

investigative article

Dormitory canteens: for hungry bellies, or greedy pockets?

by: Sheila Cavite Hurboda


It was a foggy evening. The body unaccustomed to the unpredictable shifts of the weather shivered as the pain of hunger struck her stomach and the coldness slashed her veins. Minutes later, the limp body collapsed.
Maria Fe, then a first year student in Mindanao State University (MSU)-Main was rushed to the University Infirmary in a mid-June night. Admittedly, she said she has peptic ulcer and its attack of pain was provoked by her skipping of meals. With teary eyes, this young girl shyly stated that she was not used to frequent walking and the trip from Princess Lawanen Hall (PLH) to 5th street was such an ordeal that she chooses not to eat dinner than thin her soles out.
She was just one of the hundreds of the dormitory residents in the campus that depend on the mini-restaurants and eateries alongside the 5th street and the Commercial Center (ComCen). It is not because there are no foods available in the dormitories that pushed Maria Fe to patronize the “street foods” outside the dormitory she was living in but because she found it cheaper to have her board or “share”, as it is traditionally called by the students, outside. With only a thousand-peso monthly allowance, she cannot afford to give up the P950 for a month’s “share” in the dormitory canteen leaving her a few pesos for her other needs. While outside, she can have a 3-meal board for atleast P850.
Prices of commodities in the dormitories are also noticeably higher than the ones sold in the ComCen. For instance, a pack of fish crackers worth 5 pesos at Tweetums’s Store in the ComCen is made 6-7 pesos in the dormitories. Other goods like shampoos, sanitary napkins, toothpaste, soap, instant noodles, ball pens and medicines are increased by 1 to 2 pesos. According to Mamita (an endearment), the cook/manager of the PLH-north wing canteen, sometimes they purchase their goods in the ComCen giving them no choice but to add a peso or two on the original prices of the goods for them to have some profit.
Amid the comparatively high-priced items being sold in the dormitories, residents still patronize them. Joy, a fourth year engineering student, said that mini-canteens/stores in dormitories help students especially during rainy days where flood becomes so discouraging. Other students are also forced to buy from them during emergencies and when their supplies run short. “I have nothing against our canteen because in fairness (to the servers), they render good service to the students. With them, I feel like living in our home and eating my mom’s specialties”, said Cherilou, an AB English student.
Almost all statements of the student-residents of the dormitories are in favor of the existence of this kind of business. Jhan Michael, from the Rajah Solaiman Hall (RSH), one of the boys’ dormitories, testified how their canteen helped him have a regular breakfast without getting late in his classes. RSH, which is located near the College of Engineering, seems to be quite far from the “civilization”--the Commercial Center where most of the university students prefer to buy their food stuffs.
The daily operations of these businesses inside the dormitories go on from the early dawn until late in the evening. But one day, Dr. Ricardo de Leon, the previous MSU President ordered the closure for these canteens/stores in the dormitories sometime in year 2006. According to Mr. Rey P. Panumpang, the Housing Management Division (HMD) Director, there are actually 5 stores present in the functional dormitories namely: (girls’ dorms) North and South Wing of Princess Lawanen Hall, Potre Maamor Hall, Rajah Indarapatra and Potre Linangbae Hall (girls’ dorm); Rajah Solaiman, Lakadulan Hall, and Rajad Dumduman Hall (boy’s dorms) ; owned by some of the Dormitory managers. The closure was based on one of the General Policies and Guidelines for all University dormitories’ which prohibits the establishment of mini-restaurants inside the said institutions (Student handbook, Dormitory Accommodation’s General Policies and Guidelines d.4). Furthermore, de Leon considered the fact that the ongoing businesses in the dormitories greatly affect the income of the MSU Cafeteria which is considered as one of the Income Generating Project (IGP) of the University.
The MSU Cafeteria was founded primarily with the aim to provide nutritious, well-balanced, and affordable meals to the MSU constituents. It was built beside the Center for Women Studies and is facing the MSU Administration Building.
According to Ms Annie Jane Tamano-Disomangcop, Food Service manager, the MSU Cafeteria has started its operations since the function of the University itself. It was opt to serve the first scholars of the University since student’s monthly allowance then was said to be given directly to the Cafeteria’s handling.
The regular and secured income of the Cafeteria, according to Ms Disomangcop was being deposited in the Landbank of the Philippines through their own account. But during the Umpa administration, where some monetary adjustments were made due to the lowered budget allocation given by the state to the university; some offices and departments/units of MSU were centralized as the Auxiliary division under the roof of the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Administration and Finance (OVCAF), now manned with MSU Vice President Romeo S. Magsalos.
The Cafeteria, which provides catering services not only to its constituents but as well as to private groups or individual and guests for ordinary or special gatherings, had a daily earning of more or less P14,000 (for the main dishes), and P4-5,000 (for snacks), on regular days. “There were really lots of customers here then. But when other competitors came… (like) those eateries sprouting in the 5th street and the in demand dormitory canteens, the cafeteria started to become unpopular”, explained Ms Disomangcop. Now, she already considers a daily income of more or less P6, 000 for the main dishes and a thousand pesos for snacks sales a blessing. With 27 employees including 3 detail personnel working for the cafeteria, the monthly income of it won’t suffice for the salary of those workers. This situation may have troubled the former President prompting him to do necessary actions toward the problem.
Unfortunately, the effect of the former MSU President’s order of closure for the dormitory canteens/stores according to Ms Disomangcop has not been felt by them. In her opinion, the owners of those stores in the dormitories were still selling secretly despite the order. And her statement was somehow supported with that of Mr. Panumpang of HMD who admitted that the order was not properly implemented. It only lasted for less than a month because of the students’ requests for the reopening of the canteens/stores of their respective dormitories. Students complained about the difficulties they suffer without the canteens in the dormitories. Former President de Leon then, unforgetful of the plight of the MSU Cafeteria agreed the reopening of those canteens with a verbal agreement that managers of the businesses should only sell pater (rice with beef or chicken meal) and soft drinks during the evening when it is dangerous for the students to go out and buy foods or get their shares. On the other hand, De Leon told them to lower their pricing for their products. Through this, some of the students may have their breakfast or lunch in the Cafeteria as being suggested.
The canteens/store owned by some of the dormitory managers and that served as a kind of cooperative by the dormitory employees ranging from those positioned as the dormitory office clerks, to assistant managers and the manager. Twenty percent of the quarterly income of those stores is supposed to be donated for the development of a certain dormitory according to the HMD director. But in the PLH Dormitory for example, the students occupying the 70 rooms with 4 occupants a room were made to pay P5 for the purchase of floor wax and another P5 for a garbage can and 5 pails.
The students, excluding the scholars pay atleast P350 in the Housing Management Division aside from the P125 or so for the dormitory management they are in as a requisite for the having dormitory accommodation. They are supposed to pay those amounts as their share for the whole years’ dormitory improvements and for its development fund. Yet, they still have to contribute their last pesos for, again, the development and maintenance of the dormitories. They are prohibited by the dormitory managers to sell cheaper sandwiches, biscuits and other stuffs for their co-residents because “it is not allowed” according to the University, and that it may affect their studies and that they may compete with the “allowed” own stores. And lastly and most importantly, they have to keep their mouth shut and just patronize whatever they can buy in the canteens, of course, minus the lowered pricelist. They are there not to complain but to patronize the overpriced canteen products in exchange with the warmth of their feet away from the wild gush of flood in the streets; in exchange for the time they could save for their reviews; in exchange for the comfort of their bed during their illness.
Students are said to be the reason for a university to exist. They are here to study both the knowledge and the hardships that would equip them for the real battles in life. A dose of pressures and disappointments can be a healthy ingredient for their development. They are here to help others fulfill what they ought to fulfill in their lives—for administrators to administer; for counselors to counsel; and for teachers to teach but certainly to for crocodiles to dine.#

Condom Talk

(informative speech manuscript)


Two weeks ago, I was very much confused of what topic to choose from as the main ingredient for an informative speech that I will be delivering infront of you. I really found a genuine difficulty in selecting topics which range from the relationship of eating chicken to gay men, the postmodernism, the irony of having loadless cellphones and many others. Frankly speaking, I was really nervous for my indecisiveness because I thought it might provoke a volcano from our public speaking professor to erupt. Thank God, an angel texted me one night and shared a poem that changed my fate and the halted the volcano from erupting (would you mind if I read it? Oh, I forgot…you have no choice but listen) It is entitled… The rubber poem Kissing is a habit; fucking is a game. Guys get the pleasure; Girls get the pain. The guy says,” I love you”; you believe it’s true. But when your tummy starts to swell, He just says, “Who the hell are you?” The baby is a bastard; the mother is whore. This wouldn’t happen if the rubber was put on. Yes, I am talking about condoms. One of you might be thinking how unladylike of me to select such a topic to discuss. Well, I can’t blame you for that. Our society has moulded the way we think and the way we act. But isn’t it time for us to open our minds to the problems of our society, to the roots of it, and to the would-have-beens that our ancestors failed to do? Ladies and gentlemen, let us open our minds to discuss a dot that would create a line, a bit that would create a whole being and an issue that would lead answers to bigger questions. I know our society is sensitive about issues involving sexuality and much more on contraception specifically the use of condom. In the present time, there is a continuous criticism on the advertisement of this kind of contraception here in the Philippines. Many are going against the family planning advertisements on condom and other forms of contraception. And I do believe you yourself have you’re your own opinion about it-opinion that may be contradictory to mine. But before we argue and involve ourselves into a hot debate, let us first try to look on this term C-O-N-D-O-M. Do we really know enough about this thing? Condom has been claimed to be from the Latin word condon, meaning receptacle. One author argues that “condom” is derived from the Latin word condamina, meaning house. It has also been speculated to be from the Italian word guantone, derived from guanto, meaning glove. Folk etymology on the other hand, claims that the word “condom” is derived from a purported “Dr. Condom” or “Quondam”, who made the devices for King Charles II of England. It is also hypothesized that a British army officer named Cundum popularized the device between 1680 and 1717. The oldest recorded condom was an Egyptian drawing of a condom being worn found to be 3,000 years old. In 16th century Italy, Gabriele Falloppio authored the first-known published description of condom use for disease prevention. He recommended soaking cloth sheaths in a chemical solution and allowing them to dry prior to use. He claimed to have performed an experimental trial of the linen sheath on 1100 men. His report of the experiment, published two years after his death, indicated protection against syphilis. The oldest condoms found (rather than just pictures or descriptions) are from 1640, discovered in Dudley Castle in England. They were made of animal intestine, and it is believed they were used for STD prevention. In 19th century Japan, both leather condoms and condoms made of tortoise shells or horns were available. Similar devices made During the 19th Century to the present, the rubber vulcanization process was patented by Charles Goodyear in 1844, and the first rubber condom was produced in 1855. These early rubber condoms were 1-2mm thick and had seams down the sides. Although they were reusable, these early rubber condoms were also expensive. T. In 1912, a German named Julius Fromm developed a new manufacturing technique for condoms: dipping glass molds into the raw rubber solution. This enabled the production of thinner condoms with no seams. Fromm’s Act was the first branded line of condoms, and Fromm’s is still a popular line of condoms in Germany today. By the 1930s, the manufacturing process had improved to produce single-use condoms almost as thin and inexpensive as those currently available. Condoms come in different varieties. There is the latex condom. It has outstanding elastic properties: Its tensile strength exceeds 30 MPa, and latex condoms may be stretched in excess of 800% before breaking. They are used with oil-based lubricants (e.g. Vaseline) and are likely to slip off due to loss of elasticity caused by the oils. Another variety is the Polyurethane condom. They can be thinner than latex condoms, with some polyurethane condoms only 0.02 mm thick. Polyurethane is also the material of many female condoms. It can be considered better than latex in several ways: it conducts heat better than latex, is not as sensitive to temperature and ultraviolet light (and so has less rigid storage requirements and a longer shelf life), can be used with oil-based lubricants, is less allergenic than latex, and does not have an odor. However, polyurethane condoms are less elastic than latex ones, and may be more likely to slip or break than latex, and are more expensive. Another variety is the lambskin. Condoms made from one of the oldest condom materials, labeled “lambskin” (made from lamb intestines) are still available. They have a greater ability to transmit body warmth and tactile sensation, when compared to synthetic condoms, and are less allergenic than latex. However, there is an increased risk of transmitting STDs compared to latex because of pores in the material, which are thought to be large enough to allow infectious agents to pass through, albeit blocking the passage of sperm. The other variety are the experimental condoms-the Invisible Condom, developed at University Laval in Québec, Canada, is a gel that hardens upon increased temperature after insertion into the vagina or rectum. In the lab, it has been shown to effectively block HIV and herpes simplex virus. The barrier breaks down and liquefies after several hours. The invisible condom is in the clinical trial phase, and has not yet been approved for use. Condoms, as of most forms of contraception, can be assessed two ways. Perfect use or method effectiveness rates only include people who use condoms properly and consistently. Actual use, or typical use effectiveness rates are of all condom users, including those who use condoms improperly, inconsistently, or both. Rates are generally presented for the first year of use. There are several factors that account for typical use effectiveness being lower than perfect use effectiveness: • mistakes on the part of those providing instructions on how to use the method • mistakes on the part of the user • Conscious user non-compliance with instructions. For instance, someone using condoms might be given incorrect information on what lubricants are safe to use with condoms, or by mistake put the condom on improperly, or simply not bother to use a condom. Condoms are widely recommended for the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). They have been shown to be effective in reducing infection rates in both men and women. While not perfect, the condom is effective at reducing the transmission of HIV, genital herpes, genital warts, syphilis, chlamydia, gonorrhea, and other diseases. According to a 2000 report by the National Institutes of Health, correct and consistent use of latex condoms reduces the risk of HIV/AIDS transmission by approximately 85% relative to risk when unprotected, putting the seroconversion rate (infection rate) at 0.9 per 100 person-years with condom, down from 6.7 per 100 person-years. The same review also found condom use significantly reduces the risk of gonorrhea for men. A 2006 study reports that proper condom use decreases the risk of transmission for human papilla virus by approximately 70%. Another study in the same year found consistent condom use was effective at reducing transmission of herpes HIV simplex virus-2 also known as genital herpes, in both men and women. The Roman Catholic Church which is the largest organized body of any world religion dedicated in to fighting the AIDS epidemic in Africa, but its opposition to condom use in these programs has been highly controversial. The Catholic Church directly condemns any artificial birth control or sexual acts aside from intercourse, between married heterosexual partners. However, the use of condoms to combat STDs is not specifically addressed by Catholic doctrine, and is currently a topic of debate among high-ranking Catholic authorities. A few, such as Belgian Cardinal Godfried Danneels, believe the Catholic Church should actively support condoms used to prevent disease, especially serious diseases such as AIDS. However, to date statements from the Vatican have argued that condom-promotion programs encourage promiscuity, thereby actually increasing STD transmission. Because of the dangers threatening our society of sexually active people, contraceptive methods specifically condoms are a handy protection for a lifetime suffering. With all its negative connotations, they are indeed helpful in today’s generation. So if time comes that one of you might be engaging in a certain sexual encounter with your significant others, don’t forget a statement which was quoted from a certain movie during the World War II that goes, “Don’t forget-to put it on, before you put it in.”#

My Poem

Eyes of my heart
(by:Shing)
I saw the eyes I wished not to perceive.
The eyes so fierce that flickers in my dreams.

I saw the eyes behind the shadow of the world.
The eyes I thought would take the light I behold.

I feared to lose the soul I have in me;
for the stars runs through my body and my veins.

Its warmth occupied my heart as it was never been filled.
And then I realized, the eyes are the windows of my heart.

My Tula

Nandito,naghihintay
(bv: Shing)

Sa bawat pagsikat ng inang araw.
Puso ko’t kaluluwa tila sumasayaw.
Bagong pag-asa ang natatanaw.
Sa iyong pagdating baling araw.

Buhay ko’y kay sigla sa tuwi-tuwina,
Sa paghihintay ng pag-ibig mo sinta.
Ako ma’y tumanda o kumunat pa.
Ika’y hihintayin, asahan mo sana.

Dumating man ang araw na kinatatakutan ko,
Ang pagkawala ng pag-ibig mo’t pangako.
Sana’y iisipin at pakatandaan
Ika’y mananatili parin sa puso ko.

Kaya mahal ko, iaalay ko sayo,Pag-ibg na wagas at totoo.
Kaya sana-y pakaasahan mo,
Nandito lang ako at naghihintay.