Marcelo Santos III: The Next Internet Celebrity on YouTube

By Maiqui Rome Francis M. Sta. Ana



A 20-year old college student from Novaliches has taken the hearts of the Filipino youth through his emotional Love Story on Video (LSOV) which can be seen at the video sharing site, YouTube.

Marcelo Santos III, a 4th year Advertising and Public Relations student from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) located at Sta. Mesa, Manila, started his video making career as nothing more than a hobby for his friends.

“At first it was just nothing but an attempt to do something that I have never done before. Originally I did all of that for my friends and just to have fun. I attached my email address at the end of the video so that more people would add me up as their friend. I never thought that it would become such a hit,” Marcelo said in an interview.

He started making his videos last December 2009. His debut story is the three-part video “Bag at Folder”, a story about two people who are about to confess their true feelings for each other when a sudden accident befalls the guy named Ryan. In the end, the characters said that the ending of their love story rests on what the viewers think is the appropriate ending. These first three videos already received almost 400,000 hits on YouTube.

“My first videos are about the concept of ‘it’s too late’ and there are a lot of ‘what ifs’ in the stories. Some characters disappear or die because of the realization that not all love stories have a happy ending,” Marcelo expressed in Filipino.

All of Marcelo’s videos are accompanied by solemn and sometimes melancholic love songs that served as a mood-setter in order to unify the feeling of the viewer that the video they are watching is a unique story of life and love. Some of the music he chose to include in his videos are “Hiling” by Silent Sanctuary, “Kung Wala Ka” by Hale, and the MYMP rendition of “Only Reminds Me of You.”

“Whenever I write my stories I listen to the music to acquire the necessary emotions for me to start writing. After that, I’ll start writing on the spot whatever’s on my mind that time.”

The video that received the most number of views on Marcelo’s channel is the viral video entitled “DOTA vs. Girlfriend.” The story of a girl named Shiela and her boyfriend Rafael who always plays DOTA, a highly addictive role-playing game that is currently capturing the attention of many teenagers today. Rafael’s addiction to the game made him forget about Shiela calling his cellphone a number of times, asking him to accompany her to celebrate their 9th monthsary together. Darkness fell and Shiela was attacked by armed men who tried to rob her, eventually leading to her death. This story received almost 970,000 hits on YouTube because of its melancholic theme accompanied by a soulful background of the worldwide hit “Fall For You” by Secondhand Serenade.

Marcelo’s inspiration for his stories comes from his own personal experiences and also the support of all the fans and the viewers of his videos who keep on demanding more of his love stories. He also gets most of the material that he writes from his friends and the people around him.

“If I write horror then only a handful of people will be interested in my stories. If I write comedies then people would think that all of it is just a joke and nothing more than a waste of time. Not all of us have our own horror stories or funny stories; but all of us have our own love stories to tell that everyone can relate to.”

Pocketbooks and radio/TV dramas are all part of the typical afternoon pastime of Filipinos especially before they lie down and have their refreshing siestas beneath the scorching heat of the sun. But just like any other leisure activity that withstood the test of time, technology steps in and reinvents these traditional forms of recreation into new media. Marcelo took advantage of this and created his very own series of love stories on video that will surely capture the hearts of everyone.

“I chose to write love stories because of the fact that Filipinos are more dramatic. And when it comes to love stories, whether the old or the young, all of us are considered equals.”

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The Flip Side of Hiphop: an interview with Dello

By Dennese Vzmyn Victoria and Antonio Ramon Royandoyan

Dello in one of his most famous rap battles

SMOKE, booze and an awesome amount of ego fill the air. Words are sent whirling towards the adversary; the audience chant to an inaudible but internally felt beat. You need no flashy clothes and the chains hanging low on your neck don't matter. The people are there to hear you speak, rap, whatever you call it. Make every rhyme cutting, make every word worth remembering; and if possible, make them ego-eradicating.

With the realization that the previous paragraph can be personified, the name “Dello” comes into the mind of the modern rap aficionado. He’s the 28 year-old tee-wearing, quick-witted, wicked-mouthed, crowd-favorite rapper in the now acknowledged Flip Top, The First Filipino Rap Battle League.

In contrast to the hip-hop stereotype of having too much real-life air and angst, what is said in Flip Top apparently stays in Flip Top. Sorry fans if you’ve made a Dello altar for yourself, but he’s not exactly what his crowd typecasts him to be; nor does he need to be one.

Wendell Gatmaitan, also known as Dello for Flip Top fans, is actually a Fine Arts graduate. He graduated in 2003 from the Far Eastern University in Manila and has since been part of creating print ad campaigns for big companies such as Smart Telecommunications.

He was not a bum who stayed at home waiting for stardom. Before the 5 million Youtube views, he was an OFW in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; toiling in foreign soil for his mother and son.

“Rapping definitely wasn’t a family thing,” he shares, “even my being an artist was unconventional.”

Dello was born into a family of doctors and lawyers; his brother even works in the Department of Justice. His journey towards the love for art, rap and music in general was a solitary one. Even his friends and classmates did not share his passion. He would drop funny lines at home and everyone would just give a laugh. Never did he realize that rapping could be a talent; that not everyone could do so and in such a clever way.

“It’s still a question for me, how this all happened. I still can’t believe it. People recognize me; ask me to take pictures with them. It feels strange.”

Dello came home to the Philippines last December 2009 to rap. While spending days and nights abroad, he met and formed this group called “Skwaterhawz” with fellow OFW rap enthusiasts. Not too much thought was put into their name as during that time, they came up with it just because “it was needed.”

Just months later Flip Top was launched and he found himself in a freestyle rap battle where he suffered his first defeat.

No one told him that Flip Top was about two people cleverly lambasting each other in front of a demanding and taunting crowd. He decided that he didn’t want to battle anymore after that night.

After sometime, some chiding by friends and some 5 to 6 bottles of Red Horse beers, Dello soon found himself in another battle; this time, with a new opponent, against the bad-mouthed Target. The battle propelled Dello to rap stardom and what his groupmates call his Eminem-like story.

“I don’t actually understand why people get wild over two people verbally abusing each other in public,” he said and smiled as he paused.

“But it’s so dreamlike that I’m doing what I love and people love me for that.”


One of the best 
There’s no denying that Dello is one of the best rappers in Flip Top. He is able to smoothly return insults and multiply the hurt by ten. The people holler to his every line, but no one expects that he’s actually very shy.

Though it does not show, Dello is intoxicated in alcohol when he battles. He needs to be. He’s very shy and he needs to have at least 5 bottles of beer to overcome that shyness.

“It’s nerve-wracking in Flip Top. There’s too much smoke, a lot of people surround you, and they’re all looking at you, waiting, for what you have to say, or most of the time, for what you’ll fail to say,” he claims.

Two weeks before a battle is held, a rapper already knows his opponent . They take that time to prepare general lines of insult. When the battle comes and you’re in the center, what matters is how wittingly you can answer back to whatever blow your opponent might have prepared for you; and this is where Dello is really good at.

“I’m thankful that people consider me as one of the best. I like being one of the best; it means that a lot of us can be great at this. It means I’m not alone.”

Attention has really been given to Flip Top; one question raised was them being the new poets of society, ang mga bagong mambabalagtas as they say.

“It’s a good thought but it’s also gets you to think about things. ‘New poets,’ it means someday we too are going to be old, worse, forgotten. But we know that, I know that. I’m just happy that right now we are considered to be that.”

Dello loves the whole rap and hip-hop scene but he also considers other professions, especially when he thinks of his 4-year old son. He’s currently unemployed as to all the gigs he is landing by rapping. Compensation is good but he knows and admits that such interest will not forever be in the rap scene.

“It really depends on the generation. Right now, this generation loves rap. But next time it may not be rap. It may be another thing. A generation creates its own ‘in’ system. It all depends on that.”

He says he’ll be looking for a real job this November; probably as a graphic artist again. He describes it to be a more stable source of income.

“Art is my first love. I’ll always come back to it.”


Hoping for what is good
Hip-hop along with politics, Dello says, is one of the bothersome scenes in the Philippines. It is too troubling as there is too much confusion and fighting. He doesn’t know where Flip Top will go or what it will become in the future. But he’s hoping that it’s going to be “good” for Flip Top and for the general hip-hop scene.

“People need to calm down; especially in Flip Top where nothing is personal. Why will you get mad when in the first place you’re trying to get that person mad yourself?”

Dello doesn’t attack mothers or groups. He’s dropped another rapper’s name only once. He gets ticked off but only at the right times and in the right places and with the right reasons. He gets annoyed, which is wrong, when he is compared to another rapper. But so far he’s handled that well; separating what’s personal from the seemingly personal but actually impersonal world of Flip Top. 

He will soon be the godfather of Target’s child, which, most people would assume to be impossible if they think the Dello vs. Target battle seeps in real life. They battle but after that they have fun. What is said in Flip Top should stay in Flip Top. Otherwise a lot of people would have been dead by now.

“I’m a rapper but I don’t have enemies. I guess that’s the only thing I can boast of, but I’m happy about it.”

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The Vendors of Mendiola

by Erika Denise Dizon

HE DRAGGED his tattered slippers on the soiled and unpaved streets of the province daily to attend his afternoon class some 40 years ago.

He never really liked school.

For five times a week, he cursed at the piercing rays of the twelve o’clock sun that walked with him for adding to the burden. Always the reluctant and lackadaisical student, he rarely opened his workbook at home. At school, he was the perpetual latecomer. It was easy to spot him sleeping in the middle of the lecture, but hard to drill in his head the name of discipline. That was Edgardo.

One day, he stopped attending class. Instead, he opted to help his mother sell clothes at the nearby plaza at the ripe age of 16, not knowing that his decision to forever cease schooling would someday be the foundation of his regrets and toils.

At 55 years old, he is now a sidewalk vendor who sells clay pots at the short stretch of Mendiola Street in Manila.

Edgardo’s story is all too common in the Philippines where, according to the Basic Education Statistics of the Department of Education, in 2009, 7.45 percent of the country’s high school students are dropouts.

Seated behind three brightly colored clay pots on the floor, his worn out cap slightly covered his face as he talked softly but fervently on that cloudy morning. At the age of 17, Edgardo married his childhood sweetheart and had five children. All five of them are already married and three of them did not finish high school.

“They just weren’t fond of studying,” he said boldly, but with a seemingly disappointed expression. “They were all like me when I was a student.”

He sells clay pots at Mendiola Street only on Thursdays because that is the only day the vicinity police allow them to.

“Many people pass by this area during Thursdays because there is mass going on in one of the neighboring churches.” He also sells his clay pots in front of the historical Quiapo church every Friday.

Edgardo admits that his weekly earnings are good enough to sustain him and his wife’s basic and daily needs.

Pisila, 54, is also a sidewalk vendor. She sells pocket-sized prayer booklets in front of San Beda College for the small amount of 20 pesos.

"Sometimes, I get to earn around a hundred pesos at the end of the day when luck favors me."

A hundred bucks would go a long way to the sidewalk vendor, whose conspicuous white hair and wrinkled hands echo her five-decade-worth of trials. A hundred bucks would provide her family at home rice for the whole day, and school allowance for her two grand children whose mother left them under Pisila's care in exchange for greener pastures in Olongapo City. A hundred bucks would provide them hope to endure the two or three to come -- but only when this so-called "luck" is by their side.

One of her two grand children, six-year-old Katrina, skips school every Thrursday to help her grandmother sell the booklets.

"It's okay [to have a difficult life]," Pisila said. "It may be difficult but you don't have a choice. You have to work hard to get by."

Pisila's husband spends time at home on most days of the week while she stays at Mendiola to sell the remaining prayer pamphlets until six in the evening.

Lastly, there is Melchor, a pedicab driver, a jolly old fellow at the age of 39, and a present day Magi, who gives his gift of service to the civilians of Manila.

Census showed that underemployment rates in the country have gone down to 17.9 percent, a 1.9 percent decrease from 2009 stats.

Although he has been a pedicab driver for 15 years now, and earning only about 250 to 300 pesos a day, he has a degree in Electrical Engineering but failed to graduate because of his family's fiscal problems then. Despite all those, Melchor dreams big for his three young children. He hopes that one day, they may finish their schooling in order to attain a better and brighter future.

"No pain, no gain," he said in high spirits

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PNP: Unguarded spotlight

By Neil John Carandang

THE PNP (Philippine National Police) promised to serve and protect the public. Although there are many who have been questioning their credibility, their goal now is to regain the trust of those whom they serve.

The botched hostage rescue and allegations of police brutality among others reduced public faith in the country’s internal peace-keeping force and the PNP themselves know that. Their mission now is to change the public’s impression and ‘prove their worth,’ so to speak.

The history of PNP is “highlighted” with a lot of failed operations and anomalies, thus, earning different insulting meanings, as a form of derision, including the Department’s acronym and for the police; Pahingi ng Pera (PNP), the pulis patola,and kotong cops.

The concept of PNP as pahingi ng pera started during the hype of the massive corruption of the manila police in streets; they have been labeled as the “Kotong cops” of the Philippines.

Kotong is a form of forced bribery commonly known as “lagay.” In plain sight, “kotong” is actually stealing. “Pulis Patola” is a term coined as form of ridicule for those who accept briberies from authorities.

The PNP has been receiving a lot of negative criticism and which many believe to be self-imposed.


Amid the ridicule : “Kayo ang aming boss”
“We in the police department do not let negative issues affect our jobs in protecting the citizens,” said Manila Police District (MPD) Explosive and Ordinance Division Police in Chief Oliver Sotto Navales. According to the officer, highlighting failed operations of policemen is to be expected from the media.

“(For the media) If there is good news, it is not good news but if there is bad news then it’s good news,” he added.

Policemen believe that the media are able to detect errors easily and will magnify them at all costs. Navales insisted that the department does not tolerate any faulty actions coming from their members despite the recent reports on police torture in station 2 in Tondo, Manila, where a suspected snatcher was tortured to death.

But in regards with the actions of the SWAT in the Quirino Grandstand hostage Drama, Navales took a deep breath and explained that the police just wanted to resolve the situation.

“The police wanted nothing more than to save the lives of the hostages and capture the suspect, who, unfortunately, was also a policeman,” he said.

According to Maj. Navales, their public negative image did not shake them, but has in fact, made them stronger and more determined to improve.

Maximano Ricafort, brother of the former (MPD) Explosive and Ordinance Division Police in Chief Major Ricafort, claimed that in his brother’s time of office, he had been also staying in the MPD office and he had been good friends with the police, gaining access to the issues in the department.

He believes that corruption had long entered the PNP and remains doubtful if it can still be removed from the system.

He said that the PNP’s system starts with corruption, there is a quota in accepting police every year, therefore, there are limited slots which the aspiring trainees pay for.

“Those who are really qualified loose their chance because of this corrupted system. Even in our time, this already existed, but it was around 50k back then, now I heard it has reached double.” Maximano said.


SPOTLIGHT: Does the PNP still have the trust of the majority?
An independent market research study conducted by The Digital Edge in behalf of Reader’s Digest was held in the Philippines last year. It aims to determine the trust level people have in the given list of 40 professions. The survey showed that the level trust people have on our police officers is not as high compared to our army officials and media, only getting a mean score of 4.75 out of the perfect mean score of 10 percent.


Collective insights from the masses
According to Danny Depas, 37 years-old taxi driver, thoughts that appear in his mind once he hears the “police” are fear, irritation, and discomfort.

He has been driver for almost 16 years. He saw the ups and downs of the practices of street police over the years.

For him the leader or the president is the key in minimizing the abusive policemen.

“If the president does a clean job, then there is no reason for the lower officials to do stupid things, especially the police officers,” he said

He hated the Arroyo’s administration the most; this is the time that he had encountered a lot of significant harassment coming from the police.

“Cory’s and Ramos’ administration was good, the police were “good” back then, the best was in Erap’s administration, street policeman is not the stick to us drivers, but the worst is in Arroyo’s administration.” He said.

Meanwhile, Lamberto Santos III, a 3rd year law student from the University of Santo Tomas believes that if our policemen are being paid justly, then, there would be no corruption among the police force. He also asserted that a change in law is not solely the panacea to remedy the worsening status of corruption in the society.

This statement of Lamberto was supported by Lester Cunado, also a 3rd year law student and an incumbent president of a university-wide organization in UST, Batas Tomasino, he also believes that the status quo of the performance of our PNP will be in a better state if only people would still trust to policemen’s ability to secure the public safety. with reports from Bianca de Mesa

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Living practically or for safety's sake?

By Pamela Cabrera


WHICH is more important, saving money or safety?

Living in the busy and polluted atmosphere of Manila, in every corner of the streets you could see signage of “room for rent,” “dormitory, inquire inside,” or “wanted: bedspacer.” But for a money-wise person, is it good to go for a cheap-priced rent but it will only give you an old apartment boarded with different kinds of people than to pay a high rate and assures you a nice space to live?

28-year old Abby Solang, an employee of a maritime company and currently renting a 4-door room inside a 4- story apartment along Claro M. Recto in Manila for 4 months because he was taking a training course near the said apartment.

“I have no choice,” Abby said in Tagalog regarding the reason why he chose that apartment rather than renting a good one at an expensive rate. “It is cheap and near my training center,” he added.

“There are also no rules implemented by our landlord here,” he said but the good thing about the place Abby narrated is that even though there are different borders in each room, majority of them came from the same province (Benguet or La Union). It seems that they do know each other well. “We are like brothers in this place, but we practice privacy with each other’s stuff," he added.

Most of the borders in the apartment were employees, students from nearby colleges and universities and mostly nursing graduates who are currently reviewing for their board examination just around the block.

Upon seeing the façade of the apartment, one gets an idea that it was probably been closed for years because of the narrow passageways going to the floors of the apartment. Adding up is the ground floor frontage which is composed of different repairing shops and food stalls.

The building apartment was established in 1955 and according to a landlady managing the rents in the apartment that it [apartment] suffered from earthquakes but still remains standing.

“This building has gone into series of earthquake incidents, but there is no occurrence of a major building destruction,” said Violeta Villaseňor in Tagalog; who had been living in the same building for more than 10 years and running the business of room rentals for 4 years. “It is made of heavy cement,” she added.

Villaseňor’s borders were mostly nursing students taking up their review courses in a nearby review center. But she is strictly implementing “all-girls” policy with her borders and strict rules with the visiting hours and curfews.

“I treat them as my own child, since all my children have their own lives now,” she said. That is why she is very strict with her female borders since they were her ‘kargo’ to their parents.

Safety is a must
Every boarding house should have their proper safety precautions at all times to prepare their tenants for further incidents like fire and earthquake.

“We have fire exit in one of the rooms in case of emergency,” Mrs. Villaseňor said in Tagalog. Villaseñor's boarding house underwent series of inspections by the Manila City Hall for sanitation and safety measures, and so far it had passed the inspections.

Meanwhile Abby revealed that in their room, they do not have any fire exits but they do have fire extinguishers somewhere inside the room. "We are fearful of emergencies because the stairs are narrow,” he said regarding the safety measures he and his fellow boarders are preparing in case of unexpected incidents. “We will just flee for our lives,” he added.

Orders from the city administration
According to Executive Order 7 of the Manila City Hall issued by Mayor Alfredo Lim in 2007, wherein a committee was ordered to conduct an intensive inspection among dormitories and boarding houses in Manila.

This is to ensure that every establishment follows the proper and required operation in accordance with sanitation, fire and safety laws presented by the executive order.

Prior to this, the Manila administration also issued an ordinance that prescribes the rules and regulations among boarding houses and its respective punishment if ever one of which was violated.

Every dormitory and boarding house in the jurisdiction of Manila will undergo series of inspections conducted by authorized personnel from the Chairman of the Committee on Dormitories as inspectors for each dormitory. Starting from the number of regularly accepted boarders as prescribed on the basic guidelines for operation given by the Manila City Hall.

In line with this, inspectors must also take notice of the basic requirements such as the authentic mayor and business permits; the fire safety inspection and final electrical inspection certificates and many other permits were being ensured for the safety of every boarders and tenants.

However, when any of these provisions of this Ordinance were violated by any boarding house or dormitory; the license and permit to operate after being given its first until its final notice will be invalidated by the Mayor.


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Watching Trains Go By

by Maiqui Rome Francis Sta. Ana

“Time, I’ve been passing time watching trains go by…all of my life.”

YOU MAY know this line from a popular wedding song performed by Stephen Bishop during the 1980s, but this song pretty much sums up the daily routine in the life of a security guard in the busy platforms of the Legarda train station in Sampaloc, Manila.

“It’s not easy being a security guard,” says Rodolfo Resurrecion, a 31-year old security guard in the Light Rail Transit’s (LRT) line 2 along the Santolan to Recto route. He spends 8 hours of his daily life watching thousands of people get on with their lives, rushing to the nearest train door without even noticing the man ushering people away from the yellow tiles.

Around 4:30 in the morning, the first shift of security guards start their work in preparation for the opening of the station. Rodolfo’s day starts when all the passengers started to pour inside the station. About 200,000 passengers come inside the station every day, and each and every one of them will eventually pass through the escalator where Rodolfo happily waits for their arrival and greets them with the usual, “Good morning po ma’am, ingat lang po sa paglalakad at ‘wag tumapak sa yellow line.”

Standing in the platform for 8 hours is no simple task. Leg muscles started to get numb while sweat starts to gush out of him because of the heat of the sun, the only way to cope up with fatigue and boredom is to observe the people that enters and exits the train.

“My workplace has a lot of stories to tell. I usually see couples having a love quarrel or a boy begging his mother to buy him his favorite car or even an employee arguing with her boss on the telephone. These are the scenes that keep me awake all the time,” Rodolfo said in Filipino.

It is these small and insignificant scenes in everyday life that keeps a busy and boring day from becoming a total wreck. These people provide the stories and also serve as a reminder to Rodolfo that the beauty of life can still be found amid everyone else’s chaos and clutter.

Accompanying the wave of people entering the premises of the station are the unavoidable complaints and tantrums by some unruly commuters. Protocol prohibits security guards from engaging with the commuter.

“There was this one time when a commuter started swearing in front of me because he does not want to be inspected. He said that he was on a hurry and if I am going to inspect all of his baggage he would sue me. I told him that I was only doing my job and that he can talk to my supervisor for his complaints.”

These instances are pretty much unavoidable because of the tediousness of presenting all of your baggage only to be inspected and to be returned at once.

“A lot of them [commuters] don’t understand that what we are doing is for their own safety. They think that it’s just a simple task of poking sticks inside a stranger’s bag. Our job is to ensure that there will be no trouble whenever or on whatever part of the station it is.”

The risks of being a security guard aside from encountering angry mobs of commuters but also the danger of preventing creeps armed with deadly weapons from entering the station. Once in a while some drunken person with a knife may happen to come across the entrance of the station and demand passage inside.

“My job is to protect the passengers. I must never be afraid whenever some armed miscreant wants to get in,” Rodolfo expressed in Filipino.

Rodolfo’s wife, Jane understands the risks of his job as the protector of the passengers that ride the trains of the LRT. One of the things that keeps him going is the fact that his 4-year old daughter thinks that, “He is my hero because he protects people from bad guys,” Krisha, said in an interview.

These security guards are duty-bound to ensure the safety of the commuters as they enter the station. They are the watchmen of not only the people but also the memories and hopes that accompany them in their daily travels. As the great metal tube came rushing inside the station, that familiar song about passing time while watching the train go by serves as a reminder to the people that these dedicated sentinels should not be taken for granted and that they should be treated with respect, authority and kindness no matter who they are.

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University belt hoopsters aim for unity, not pride

by Alexandra Marie Saclao


THE PHILIPPINES is a country filled with rich culture and traditions that was influenced by the former colonizers of the country. One of those influences that Filipinos came to adapt up until now is the playing of sports. Whether one is only watching from the stands, watching at any place with a television on, or the one that is playing, it can be said that sports play an important role in the life of Juan dela Cruz.

But when you say “sports”, the first thing that comes to the mind of the Filipinos is basketball. With the sport, comes pride, privilege, and power, thus the term “competition”.

In the schools around the University Belt, sports is also one of the main things that make university life wilder. With the popularity of the basketball tournaments of the University Athletics Association of the Philippines (UAAP) and the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA), one can think of the battle of the hoops 365 days a year.

University of the East Red Warriors’ Team Manager, Jesus T. Tanchanco Sr. or “Sir Jess” said that the unity of the different universities should be the number one aim of these sports activities, and that it should foster “fellowship, brotherhood, camaraderie, and love between the teams and its supporters.”

The rookie coach of the 2010 NCAA Juniors’ Basketball Competition, San Beda Red Cubs, Coach Britt Reroma, also said that in San Beda, they prioritize the learning of “proper values and education over basketball” and humility should be on their player’s top list.

Meanwhile, Far Eastern University’s point guard, Jens Dieter Knuttel, shared that being inside the court is different once they are outside. He said that the competition between their team and the other teams in the UAAP only stays inside the four corners of the San Juan Arena, the Philsports Arena and the Araneta Coliseum. He even said that he is friends with some varsity players from the other universities, like University of the East's Raphy Reyes.

When it comes to the level of competition between the premier leagues, UAAP and NCAA, Coach Britt admitted that being in the UAAP has more advantage than being in the NCAA, talking about the Seniors’ Basketball Games but it is NCAA who has a better following in the Juniors’ division.

The supporters of each team from the UAAP and the NCAA defeats the main purpose of unity in the UAAP and in the NCAA.

Sir Jess and Coach Britt both said that it is the supporters who take everything seriously. Coach Britt even shared that in every game of San Beda in the NCAA, the priests are always present monitoring on the students and the people watching the game to avoid bigger problems in the future. He also added that he and his team make sure that they are role models to their supporters when it comes to being respectful towards their opponents.

Too much attention from the media also play a key role in increasing the level of competition between the two premier leagues. Obviously, UAAP gets more media attention than the NCAA due to the reason that the former has more powerful university members than the latter. After all, the top four universities in the Philippines are all member schools of the UAAP. Some people even commented that media should pay more attention to NCAA because it has more basketball action than the UAAP. True enough, Team NCAA bested out the Team UAAP seven times in the UAAP-NCAA All Star Games since 2004.

Though the competition gets tougher and tougher by the minute, we must always remember that whatever happens inside the court, stays in the court.


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Last resort: the sex trade along the University belt

By Anne Judith Jamnague

*image courtesy of Google Images

HOW MUCH can you give to live through the day?

A day consists of 24 hours, just enough for your 8-hour job, 6-hour sleep, an hour for every meal, and the rest for other activities. Unlike others who utilize the entire day just to get something to fill their empty stomachs.

In the famous University Belt, the common man carries different stories about the having nothing; nothing to brag about but only themselves, and nothing to please but only themselves. Having nothing led these men to the path of the downtrodden– a callboy.

Within a mall located in Recto is an amusement arcade meant for kids to play during weekends and their free time; not likely what it appears to be as it is a playpen for young adults, adults, and even emeriti of different professions in search for delight to satisfy their cravings.

Benedict Aglipay, who wishes to hide behind the name Aries, is a 15-year old student from Tondo High School shares his experience while waiting for someone to approach him as he smugly admits his job of 'making one’s day'.

Other than the fact that he’s accustomed of living a hard life, he considers the activity a way to lighten ease the financial burden of his parents. As he enters his last year in school and towards college, this is the only way to finish his education.

“Like others, I want to have a degree. I want to improve my stature in life and live a comfortable life," Aries said in Filipino.

He started in this sideline two years ago when his father lost his job as a tricycle driver and his mother gave birth to his baby sister. A friend lured him to this job after saying that he will receive a high pay since he’s a kid, and queer customers often go for the young ones.

Aries revealed that his first time doing it was daunting; he felt like God never existed and almost cried while performing the act for a 30-year old gay. After the performance, he received 200 pesos, larger than his 50-peso daily budget.

Up until now, he got used to the profit that increases as he grows old and gets accustomed to the job.

"This is the only way to provide myself allowance for school," he said.

Asked if he would continue this after graduating high school, he answered yes at once."I would rather go for this than to work for a food chain where I might get a lower pay," he said.

Aside from him, his friend Pedro (Pedro Guevarra), also from Tondo High School and a year younger than him, is also in the business for the same reasons.

For him, his dream of becoming a pilot would only remain a dream, until an 'opportunity' like this came and gave him hope.

At a young age, he took over the place of breadwinner ever since his father's death. Left to look after four sibling, he and his mother functioned as 'parents'.

According to him, he had to be brave enough to keep it to himself and unwillingly do it for the sake of his kin.

"I always think of it as play, they pay me anyways," Pedro said.

He said that gay customers were even kind enough to give him food. As they got older in the business, he and Aries gained a lot of gay friends who just gave them money even without their 'service.'

Unlike the kids’ reasons of giving pleasure to members of the gay community, some look at it from perspective.

Jun (Jun Farinas), an 18-year old college student and basketball athlete from a well-known university in U-belt, does this for himself and his girlfriend.

This Caviteno sees the act of making gays happy a job; a job that he considers doing in school and not yet capable of working in the corporate world. Though he came from a well-off family, nothing stopped him from entering the sex trade.

“I do this for fun”, Jun said.

His family and girlfriend does not have any idea about his activities. According to him, he is doing this out of love for his girlfriend. To him, providing material goods to her show how much he adores her, although sometimes he uses the money to revel with college friends and play billiards.

He opted this over other jobs since it is the easiest way to get large sums of money, amid the threat of sexually-transmitted infections. After spending time in the sex trade, he got used to the company and enjoyed the acts of flesh-peddling.

After all, Jun is the typical tall, dark, and handsome guy that every female fantasizes about. His attractive appearance made him all the more appealing to the gay community, making his 'rates' more expensive.

According to him, he used to get a thousand pesos but recently, it was doubled and sometimes tripled by people who enjoy his services.

Apart from them, there’s still a number of their kind who indulge themselves with the idea of getting higher wages than working as a fast food crew or company employee.

With the country’s escalating poverty cases, boys like Jun, Aries, and Pedro resort to become a part of the country's sex trade to provide themselves financially and fuel their dreams of success. To them, life is an endless cycle, in order to be a part of it, they must do something.

As of today, our country remains conservative and takes prostitution as an illegal act unlike other Asian and European countries. The Church adheres to the commandments in monitoring our discipline and behavior. But nevertheless, the plague continues.

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At least for Rowena

By Dan Allan Dupale

WIRY, sun-scorched, brown-striped hair crowns their oil-glazed brown faces as they spend time beseeching almost everyone that passes by to spare them loose change, jingling in synchrony with every stride. They don’t wander, they wait.

Fan in one hand, and an empty sago’t gulaman plastic cup filled with three pieces of bent’singko, barely making up for a peso, on the other – these are Rowena Reyes' tools of the trade.

Already 2:30 in the afternoon, and Rowena is still struggling to reach her self-imposed quota of at least a hundred pesos.

The rattle made by the coins in the potential benefactor’s pocket is never a cacophony for Rowena. She is hopeful that, chances are the jarring sound that is within earshot might already be the hallelujah chorus, at least, for her. In every event that a coin ensemble is nearing her audibility range, Rowena celebrates, and anxiously anticipates the moment with a mouthful of air.

Permanence never seems to be in Rowena’s long list of vocabulary. She admits she had already developed over time an inch-thick hide that lessens the mortification every time she and her daughter, Mary Joy, 2, get shooed from their current begging post. She and her daughter are currently situated in the Light Rail Transit (LRT) Legarda Station, taking refuge in the shade of a hardhat area.

Rowena and Mary Joy are already accustomed to days where the sun sets and darkness cloaks them without food in their stomachs. Rowena calls it their “dry spell.” If luck seems to be on their side, a heaven-sent giver would lay food beside them, and at times, other unfinished consumables. They don’t seem to bother, they are contented, in fact, they are thankful.

According to Rowena, University Belt students are usually responsible in giving dole to her and her daughter, the professionals and the working classes never even bothering. And yet she doesn’t care. She also confessed that from the time she is able to raise enough money to take them back to Calauan, Laguna, she will grab the opportunity and flee Manila, vowing never to return.

They were formerly vagrants at the St. Jude church somewhere in Manila, where Rowena usually earns 300 pesos form mere begging and receives rations of soup or lugaw – enough to get them by for a day or two. However, she and her daughter recently just got expelled by the new priest running the church for no apparent reason, giving them no choice but to relocate to the Legarda Station. Even Rowena laughs at the Christian irony.

Rowena wastes not an iota of her precious strength in taking her plight to a specific department of government concerned with her wretchedness. She has long since already lost her trust in the administration. For her, the pa-pogi act of the administration portrayed in their million-peso worth infomercials paid by the taxpayers’ coffers as the one who coddles the country’s poor falls nothing short of a front; a fantasy. “You don’t see that kind of government outside the television,” Rowena said.

Another thing Rowena fears the most in taking her predicament to those who are supposed to be concerned is being separated from Mary Joy. Their common answer, according to Rowena, when she seeks their assistance would be “Why don’t you approach the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)?” But Rowena sternly shuns this suggestion. She even dreads the day when DSWD will come to take Mary Joy away from her upon suspicion of using her daughter as kalakal. “That idea is unthinkable,” she said.

No matter how much Rowena wanted to earn cash by doing laundry for other people, her daughter is always top priority. “I can’t leave her, even though I really want to work. Some employers don’t want children along with us, because they only slacken the work progress,” Rowena said. Although Mary Joy poses a big responsibility for Rowena, she provides priceless company, determination, and motivation for Rowena.

Unlike the typical stories of other informal settlers rooted originally in God-knows-what province taking a gamble in quest of a better life promised by Manila, Rowena, on the other hand, is a native of the country’s capital. She grew up and studied up to 2nd year high school in Manila. Although she considers Calauan, in Laguna where she really belongs; her husband and six other offspring live there.

Her other children have already their own families, although they can not support and sustain each other due to their marginalized stature.

Initially, Rowena’s plan was to rent a shelter for her family. Alas, they wound up residing beside an estero (open canal). Life, for Rowena, was then but a smooth-sailing ride, everyone is aboard, and being able to get by day by day until the moment they were evicted from their so-called “sea-side” residence. Thanks to ABS-CBN’s Gina Lopez’s advocacy of clearing the Pasig River, including other small waterways, of both garbage and informal settlers.

Rowena and her family, upon expulsion, were transferred to a relocation site in Calauan, Laguna. She first thought it was fair enough, and it wasn’t such a bad thing being moved to another place. Except for a few possessions they have to leave, Rowena was whole-heartedly in for the deal.

They were consigned in a place which Rowena described as napapaligiran ng damo. They were also provided a house with water and electricity. However, there was no livelihood there, and the ABS-CBN does not seem to give everything for free. No source of income could be recorded. The title of the house was not handed to Rowena. “You have to buy the food; there were lots of rice, but how can you buy if you have nothing to spend?” Rowena quipped.

Despite the austere tenets of the ABS-CBN, rations are present in the relocation site in Calauan, according to Rowena, but there are certain conditions before the settlers get hold of it. Since the area was surrounded with vast grassland, the ABS-CBN staff imposed on them a policy that should oblige them to hack grass before the ration is handed over. Talk about Gina Lopez’s philanthropic feats. The task seems to take eternity because, at present, Rowena’s husband is still hacking and slashing grass in exchange for the rations at store. “There are a lot of rations in store in their [ABS-CBN’s] warehouse, but they will not give it to us unless we weed out the land of grass,” Rowena said.

Rain or shine, men and women toil the grass in exchange for rations, which are composed mainly of rice. If the settlers-turned-laborers fell past the deadline, the ABS-CBN staff doesn’t care, according to Rowena, even if the stock of ration putrefies.

Life in Calauan, Laguna, back then, for Rowena only at first appears promising, but as time passed by, it slowly revealed the mundane reality. Even then, Rowena was still willing to bear it just as long they are together and able to get by.

The presence of a health center was at first comforting, but donations were asked of the patients upon treatment. “The donations serve as the payment, they just changed how it is being called,” she said. She compares how poles apart were the health centers in Calauan with those in Manila. She said she was willing to stand in a long queue just to have one of her ill kid checked with no pay.

If it wasn’t because of a bronco-pneumonia that hit one of her children, she wouldn’t have to go back to Manila. Raising 600 pesos in Calauan for the treatment of the illness was next to impossible. Firming her decision to return to Manila to raise the amount needed, Rowena braced herself for the hardships the city will buffet her.

According to Rowena, her husband can not leave their house in Calauan because once the ABS-CBN staff finds out that no one is living in the house they provided they will take back the house.

As Rowena sits and waits until her three bent’singko’s reach 600 pesos, she will without further ado head back to Calauan, Laguna and have her ill kid take the hard-earned cure for the bronco-pneumonia.

One can’t stop but wonder why Rowena does not resort to thievery. She instills in her mind that she’d rather be on the breadline than feed her children with what a misdeed produced. “I’d rather be copper-bottom, it’s okay. For me, morals are still priceless,” she said.

As Rowena, with Mary Joy, sits and waits for her three-piece bent’singko to reach 600 pesos, students from the San Beda, San Sebastian, Centro Escolar University, La Consolacion, Far Eastern University, University of the East, and the University of Santo Tomas will never stop serving as Rowena’s lifeline.

Rowena is a victim of a one-sided philanthropic deed; she was just of those who were on the sidelines whose welfare, if not vulgarly neglected, was consciously overlooked.

Morals are still priceless, at least for Rowena.

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