METROPOST GOLDA S. BENJAMIN
COFFEE & CONVERSATIONS
goldabenjamin@gmail.com T
he death of Kian delos Santos caused an explosion of feelings, debates, and even political grandstanding. However, it is also an
important moment for all of us to understand our fears, positions, and yes, even our anger. Let us be clear:
choice: Are you pro-EJK or pro-drug addicts? However, last I
stop the drug trade in this country.
People who rally against extrajudicial killings and call for justice for people like Kian are not out to disrespect the victims of crimes committed by drug addicts. They are not pro-drug addicts.
Likewise, people who cry for justice for the victims of crimes committed by drug addicts are not all in favor of extrajudicial, merciless, and bloody killings on the streets. They are not pro-bloody kil l ings of
people, including children.
Our legal and moral obligation is this: to call for justice for the victims of crimes committed by drug addicts AND the victims of extrajudicial killings. Many opportunistic
innocent
checked, we are still a humane and intelligent society, and we are aware that we must not be fooled into making a choice because really, there’s no such thing as a kwarta o kahon dilemma here: pro-EJK or pro- drug addicts.
to fall for the tactics of opportunistic parties will make a choice. Magpadala
sa mga diskurso sa mga tawo na wala kasabot ug unsa man jud ang ilang posisyon.
versus Dutertard issue. This is not a Duterte versus PNoy issue. This is not about lawyers versus non-lawyers. This is about justice and due process.
This is not a yellowtard Only those who choose
We cannot win these wars if we just debate like madmen, fuming and shouting until our lips bleed. We should refuse to be divided by pointless debates, while thousands die – either as victims of extrajudicial killings or as victims of drug addicts. Ask yourself now:
T Beyond political anger
What can I do to help stop the killings of innocent persons and stop the drug trade? These are my commitments: I will continue
AUGUST 27 - SEPTEMBER 2, 2017 7 NIKKA CORNELIO-BAKER
SAVING FOR BOTOX
Twitter: @nikkajow
Franchising & Regulatory Board vs. Uber is bringing back memories. Back when apps like
his situation between the Land Transportation
Uber and Air BnB were new, it didn’t seem like something that would take, or if it took, not something that would last. I just couldn’t see it as something I would ever try.
It’s easy to be iffy about newfangled approaches to the sharing economy.
parties are using this issue to divide the nation – making people believe that we should make a
We have a greater challenge ahead of us – something that can only be met if we are brave enough to go beyond our keyboard warrior-selves. Dili pwede na sa Facebook, magpa-isog-isog ta pero wala man pud diay ta gibuhat para makatabang. We have to present
our commitments to help stop the killings, and to
MICHAEL O’RIORDAN
OUTSIDE LOOKING IN
B
America for a brief visit. I’m interested to see what my reactions will be about life in America. I anticipate it will be challenging but am, as always, open to being pleasantly-surprised. I’ve had both an uncomfortable and comfortable glimpse at what waits in America for me.
y the time you read this column, I would already be back in
no particular preference: I’ve been fortunate to
meet special people and formed relationships, friendships from throughout the island’s social, academic, and business structure. I’m not going to mention names; you know who you are. I’m deeply grateful for the important part you now play in my life.
I’ve been reflecting on my life since I moved to Dumaguete on January 1st of this year. The following are observations based on
Al, a friend of 25 years, had insisted I stay at his lovely home in Roseville, California during my
visit.Yesterday, I received a clearly-uncomfortable email from him saying he had to reluctantly- withdraw his offer. After some probing, I discovered that his wife Judy, who had provided lovely meals for me over many years, simply did not want me staying at their home while they were away. I jokingly explained I was almost fully house- trained and that my peeing direction was flawless, but no joy. Fortunately, my Filipina friend Binky, who lives in the Sacramento area, immediately offered accommodation in her home.
several continents, but this island of Negros Oriental, one among thousands in the Philippines, is the first in which I feel truly “at home”. Perhaps some of it has
I’ve lived in countries on
irishauthormichaelcassidy@gmail.com
I groaned when I read of Rizal’s alleged reference of Dumaguete being “the island of gentle people.” It seemed more like something the tourist board dreamed- up.
T
only rude behavior I’ve observed has come from me, and a few other foreigners. Everybody has been unfailingly polite, generous, and accepting of me.
to do with my age. I’m on the final lap of what has certainly been an interesting journey. Is my overall perspective significantly changing because of the aging process? I honestly don’t know but I’ve always had an intuitive instinct about any place, and after accepting the crazy way services are provided here, or perhaps more accurately, not provided here, living here in Dumaguete/Negros Oriental simply feels very comfortable.
So what am I conscious of that makes life here so enjoyable?
I think a significant factor is the relaxed attitude of the islanders, and the overall island way of life.
And never once have I felt nervous anywhere I’ve walked at any time of day or night.
spontaneous laughter and vibrant joy of life come from? I experience it early morning when the scooters come down from higher up the mountain. Chatter and laughter abound. I finally am no longer horrified at the sight of four, and sometime five bodies cramped onto speeding scooters with beautiful, wide-eyed children, often babies, giggling as they charge down the road-less mountainside, blissfully unaware of potential death that hundred foot drops can cause. This exuberance for life
is evident everywhere else throughout my day. I see
TO PAGE 13 Where does the
But it’s definitely true. In seven months, the
to praise the decent members of the police force and call for the removal and punishment of those who kill indiscriminately --giving them due process as well. I will say yes to invitations to train our police force so they can properly handle evidence, and make sure that drug lords are put to jail forever. I will teach law and ethics, side by side, with the hope that my future students will not yield to corruption when they have to handle drug cases either as prosecutors, public defenders, or judges.
Ikaw, unsay imong matabang aning atong dako na problema?
Maybe it’s an ingrained distrust of anything that promises to shake up the status quo. Maybe it’s the universal mentality that a registered business is legit, and legitimacy equals trustworthiness. Or maybe it’s just the older we get, the less change we embrace. The comfort of the familiar is a rut we all get stuck in, the root of the reason Throwback Thursday exists. It’s flawed reasoning, I admit. But it’s worked for so many years, and you know what they say about fixing what ain’t broke.
If I’m at all honest, the real reason I was iffy about Uber is I have deeply- ingrained trust issues. Issues that began with otap. To this day, the sight of it triggers memories of
lost innocence, and I always suppress the urge to hiss at a display of Shamrock’s best. The year was 1999. To a teenager on her own in a a big city, on holiday for the first time, Cebu was a magical place. It was all fun and games up until I needed a ticket home. Times being what they were, and Google maps being non-existent, I inevitably got lost searching for the ticketing office of George & Peter Lines. Directions
were needed, nothing that a smile and a few words of thanks wouldn’t fix. Or so I thought. Long
a car owned by a random person unaffiliated with any known cab company sounded like a recipe for disaster. Who would this driver answer to? A faceless app? It sounded like chaos. It sounded like anarchy. It sounded like I might disappear forever, my face on milk cartons across the land, my remains exhumed 20 years later when what used to be swamp land is excavated to make way for a new gas station.
Strangers in cars with candy
story short, I asked an otap vendor. He was so eager to help, he roped in a friend, who had one of those trikes you see at piers for ferrying people with heavy luggage around. The good news? I found
the ticketing office. The bad? I came home with P500 worth of otap and a lifelong distrust of strangers. Clearly, the lesson here is
that otap is evil. Oh, and get directions from someone who isn’t incentivized to benefit from your ignorance (like a policeman), and learn to say no.
wish you well. This is why it took me forever to come around to using Uber.
NORM SCHRIEVER
NOT THE NORM
hi@normschriever.com
and colorful Founders Week celebration. This is my first, but for those of you who have lived here in Dumaguete for a while have come to know of Silliman U well, like the fact that it was started in 1901 by American Presbyterian missionaries, making it the oldest American- founded university in Asia. So in honor of Founders Week, here are 10 things I didn’t know about Silliman University until recently: 1. The University is the namesake of Dr. Horace Brinsmade Silliman but perhaps it could have been named Hibbard University. Silliman was the principal donor (giving $10,000) but it was fellow American Dr. David Sutherland Hibbard who came to the Philippines to scout for locations for a school, chose this part of the country “because of the beauty of Dumaguete and the friendliness of the people;” he served as the school’s first president. 2. Silliman U is often
recognized for academic excellence. Throughout its history, the University’s Ac countancy, Physic al Therapy and Nursing programs have been ranked #1 in the Philippines. Silliman University was ranked 4th best in the country (following three University of Philippines schools), and in the top 150 universities in all of Asia. 3. Silliman’s acacia-lined campus by the sea is a national
he past days I’ve been experiencing Silliman University’s spirited
historical landmark, and is listed as one of the 50 Most Beautiful College & University Campuses in the World. The University actually
has multiple campuses, including a 29-hectare campus north of downtown, along Silliman Beach; Camp Lookout in Valencia overlooking Dumaguete, where they host the Silliman National Writers Workshop; and a 465-hectare ranch and farm on Ticao Island in the province of Masbate in the Bicol region that was donated by the family of an alumnus. 4. Silliman University takes
up almost one-third of the total land area of downtown Dumaguete. With nearly 9,000
10 things I didn’t know about Silliman University
students from all over the Philippines and 30 countries abroad, Silliman makes up approximately eight percent of the University Town’s total population. 5. The University was forced to shut down twice during its history. On May 26, 1942, the campus was occupied by Japanese forces, turning Channon Hall into the headquarters of their dreaded military police where they tortured and killed many Filipinos. It wasn’t until 1945 that American and Filipino forces liberated the country from the Japanese, allowing the University to reopen and for classes to resume. Then in 1972, it wasn’t foreign invaders but Martial Law that padlocked the
University, with the Philippine Constabulary raiding offices, and rounding up and detaining student-activists and campus journalists. 6. The scenic campus, which boasts of a view of the mountain and the sea, is home to about 300 acacia trees, but there is particularly one near the Gymnasium that is most notable. The tree is perfectly symmetrical because it was on this tree that the Japanese hanged their prisoners during World War II; the weight of the dangling bodies posthumously shaped the branches of the acacia. 7. By 2010, Si l l iman became the first school in the Philippines to offer co- ed boxing in its Physical Education pr o gra m . T aught by world
Metta Silliman Library started with only two small bookcases. Today, it houses over 250,000 books, and is considered one of the biggest collections in all of Southeast Asia. 9.Katipunan Hal l was originally the Silliman Mission Hospital in the 1960s (now called the SU Medical Center in a compound of its own across the Silliman Ballfied) where many Dumagueteños now in their 50s were born. KH is now home to some departments of
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famous coaches, Fred and Hedi Block and Joe Clough, the two-credit P.E.21 was called Introduction to World Boxing. http://dumaguetemetropost. com/boxing-course-at-silliman-
university-p839-196.htm 8. Built in 1978, the Robert &
Strangers do not always
for the umpteenth time, took a cab to work because being employed is good, and I’d like to remain that way, and realized the cost of the cab ride was almost half of what I earn in a day. The next time it happened, I took the Uber plunge, and the price difference was astounding. Toronto’s cab issue is more about price, than it is about meters being jerry-rigged, or drivers intentionally taking the long way round to run up the tab, the way it can get in cities like Manila or Cebu. Uber lets riders rate
And then I woke up late The idea of getting into
drivers, and vice versa. Anyone who uses the app has a star rating, and potential passengers can view the driver’s star
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