Philippine Collegian

NARITO NA ANG BAGONG ISYU NG KULÊ!

As Pride Month opens, the Collegian tackles the sectoral narratives that the state threatens to push to the margins. Our editorial charts paths for an unusually empowered Senate minority to lead sweeping transformation in a period of crisis by pursuing long-stalled corruption probes and easing costs of living for workers and peasants.

The Collegian also discusses the rare impending Super El Niño that threatens to destroy the livelihoods of farmers and fisherfolk. Meanwhile, the state continues to shortchange evacuees of the 2017 Marawi Siege with delayed compensation claims and slipshod housing. Covered in the pages too is a fire in Parola Compound, Binondo that left 2,134 families in precarity, while corporations push to cut hundreds of trees on Quirino Avenue, Manila to build the Southern Access Link Expressway.

As political crises deepen, foreign business stays on top. Filipinos continue to spend hefty out-of-pocket expenses on medication and treatment subject to price gouging by multinationals. All the while, the US-led Pax Silica coalition bats for a 1,618-hectare industrial hub in New Clark City that will feature minerals processing facilities and data centers.

This issue also tackles the ways sectors tell emergent stories and the way such is obscured by dominant forces. As vernacular writers use writing and translation to grapple with an uneven Bangsamoro peace process and forward decolonization, q***r scholars continue to weave ideas of time that break out from the prison imposed on them by patriarchal, cisheteronormative society at large.

Grab a free copy of our latest issue at your college or access the digital version here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HjLh7ZqOxvcenpO__cvqa8MELOCX0iPF/

For decades, the Philippine Senate has operated under supermajorities. The Senate, however, now finds itself in unfamiliar territory as the minority bloc stands nearly on equal numerical footing with the majority, 13 against the minority’s 11.

Recent developments further expose the majority’s tenuous grip on power: The majority can only muster 11 warm bodies due to the prolonged absence of Sen. Bato Dela Rosa and the fresh arrest of Sen. Jinggoy Estrada. Save for his latest attendance that was crucial for securing the votes to permit the recent leadership shakeup and a looming warrant of arrest from the International Criminal Court, Dela Rosa is not expected to appear before the Senate anytime soon. Whereas, Estrada is currently in detention following an arrest warrant for plunder and graft charges connected to the flood control corruption scandal.

While evidently polarizing, such a political opening may prove useful, especially to progressive lawmakers in the opposition, in capitalizing on the opportunity to assert meaningful leverage in the Senate.

READ: https://phkule.substack.com/p/a-polarized-senate-opens-strategic

JUST IN: Sen. Jinggoy Estrada has submitted himself to authorities. This comes at the heels of the Sandiganbayan’s filing of an arrest warrant for plunder against him Monday.

Last Tuesday, the Office of the Ombudsman slammed Estrada with a non-bailable plunder charge and two counts of graft. The anti-corruption body had found reasonable cause to indict the senator over receiving upwards of P573 million in anomalous flood control commission fees. Listed as co-respondents were ex-Public Works and Highways secretary Manuel Bonoan and other DPWH-NCR officials.

These cases would be raffled to the Sandiganbayan, whose Second Division would issue arrest warrants against Estrada and Bonoan on Wednesday. The two, however, would each post a P90,000 bail, effectively saving themselves from detention.

This new warrant corresponds to the plunder charge which is non-bailable and carries a penalty of life imprisonment. Estrada is now the highest-ranking official in the land to be arrested over involvement in the flood control corruption debacle.

This marks the third time Estrada has been hit with plunder raps in a 25-year timespan, the first and second cases being in 2001 and 2014 respectively.

Lunas sa sakit ng katawan ang hinahanap ng maraming mamimili sa Quiapo. Ngunit mula pa noong administrasyong Marcos Sr. hanggang Marcos Jr., nananatiling mailap ang mga de-kalidad na serbisyong panlipunan na makapag-aangat sa buhay ng kapwa manininda at mamimili.

Aaminin kong binalot ako ng takot noong Abril na nasa San Jose, Occidental Mindoro ako habang inuulat ang kalagayan ni Charlize “Ceeka” Garzon isang linggo makalipas ang kaniyang pagkakaaresto. Batid ng kasama ko sa Kulê, mga kaibigan, at mga propesor tuwing binabalitaan ko sila kung paano ako naaligaga sa lantarang paniniktik at panghaharas ng estado sa municipal plaza habang naghihintay ng kaganapan kay Ceeka.

Ngunit, lampas sa mga kalsada ng liwasang pambayan, patuloy pa rin ang pagmamatyag ng mga elemento ng estado: nakamotorsiklo, balot ang mga mukha habang kinukunan ng larawan ang aming tinutuluyan. Noong ako at ang kasama ko na ang naitalagang magbantay, hindi sapat ang makapal na jacket upang ibsan ang panlalamig ko sa kaba tuwing nakakikita ng dumaraang motor na may kahina-hinalang galaw kahit hanggang madaling-araw.

Kalaunan, unti-unting napawi ang aking takot nang makausap ko si Teacher Mayla Garzon, ina ni Ceeka. Sa aming kuwentuhan, mas nakilala ko si Ceeka bilang isang anak na ginamit ang talino at kakayahan upang pagsilbihan ang bayan. Hindi kailanman sumagi sa isip ni Teacher Mayla na maging aktibista, kaya ang paninindigan niyang mapalaya ang anak, sa kabila ng mga hamon, ang pinanghugutan ko ng lakas ng loob upang magpatuloy sa kabila ng lahat.

Ngunit aaminin kong nanumbalik ang aking takot nang mabalitaan ang sinapit ni RJ sa kamay ng estado, at sa patuloy na kinahaharap ng marami pang mga community journalist sa bansa, gaya ni Frenchie Mae Cumpio na nakakulong pa rin hanggang ngayon dulot ng kataka-takang kaso ng terorismo.

Sino man sa atin—mga mamamahayag, aktibista, o kahit ordinaryong mamamayan na tumutungo sa mga marhinalisadong pamayanan—ay maaaring gantihan ng estado anumang oras dahil lamang sa ating ipinaglalaban. Ngunit, sa panahong mismong estado ang nagpapalaganap ng matinding kasinungalingan, kagyat ang kahingian upang higitan ang paninindigan.

BASAHIN: https://phkule.substack.com/p/sa-tumitinding-atake-ng-estado-sa

LOOK: The Sigla Research Center hosted Friday a forum titled Contemporary Influence Operations in Southeast Asia in Max’s Tomas Morato. The forum was joined by pundits on disinformation networks in Southeast Asian nations like Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and others.

Sabrina Firdaus Aloysius, Senior Research Executive of the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs, discussed the present makeup of influence operations, which has become professionalized and ingrained in the operations of PR and communications firms. An hierarchized, assembly line-esque workflows govern the industry, with individual managers and agencies as intermediaries. To boot, the funding system of such operations remain opaque in the face of toothless disclosure and financing policy.

Meanwhile, independent researcher Irma Garnesia zoomed in on the often underlooked victims of doxing, trolling, and other forms of harassment wrought by virulent influence operations. According to Garnesia, journos and activists have been stepping away from their work en masse in an age of normalized surveillance and law enforcement that does not center on the victim. She reaffirms that digital security training is still important today.

Rossine Fallorina, Sigla Managing Director, discussed generative AI’s production and reception in election seasons. Fallorina and his team recorded an uptick in AI media across five social media platforms in the 2025 midterm elections. This speaks to an upward trend in the integration AI into influence operations, as it is significantly cheaper and more largely scalable.

Lastly, Ross Tapsell, Associate Professor of the Australian National University, floated the prospect of resetting the Southeast Asian internet by revisiting concepts like the digital divide, digital democracy, and other ideas redefined the growing influence market in Southeast Asia. Tapsell asserted that the internet can still be reclaimed for the public good.

Ngayong araw, ating ginugunita ang ika-47 kaarawan ni Kerima Lorena Tariman.

Bilang isang kultural na manggagawa bago maging ganap na rebolusyonaryo, litaw kung paano nagagamit ng isang rebolusyonaryo ang kaalaman at talento sa sining. Bago pa man naging kasapi ng kilusan ang karamihan sa mga dinadakilang indibidwal, masikhay na sila sa paggawa ng sining tulad ng panitikan, visual arts, teatro, pelikula na kadalasang ibinibahagi sa mga komunidad sa kalunsuran.

Hindi lang siksik sa talino at katapangan ang mga kababaihan kundi nag-uumapaw rin ng talento. Makikitang ang paglikha ng sining kaakibat ang isang panlipunang tungkulin ay isang mapagpalayang akto.

Kabilang si Kerima sa mga kinikilalang rebolusyonaryong makata. Inilathala noong 2022 ng Gantala Press ang kaniyang huling koleksyon ng mga tula na pinamagatang Sa Aking Henerasyon: Mga Tula at Saling-Tula.

Hitik ang huli niyang libro ng mga tulang tumatalakay sa danas ng mga batayang sektor ng lipunan, mga agam-agam sa pagkilos, at pagwawasto sa gawi ng isang tibak. Kabilang sa mga piyesang ito ang Tarlak, Tarlak, Mga Sulat Mula sa Lambak ng Cagayan, at Peligroso. Ilan lamang ito sa mga tulang mapanghamon sa bawat aktibistang sumusulong.

BASAHIN: https://phkule.substack.com/p/nangingibabaw-sa-akdang-sa-aking

UP Progressive Responsive Innovative Movement in Engineering, the only political party running in Eng’g for the third consecutive year, won all 11 posts it fielded in the Engineering Student Council elections.

Incoming second-year civil engineering student Dewey Kenneth Compas will lead the ESC as the next chairperson, garnering 1,359 votes versus 733 abstentions. He will be accompanied by incoming third-year industrial engineering student Emmanuel Andrei Aringo as vice chairperson, winning with 1,380 votes against 712 abstentions.

Only two of the five councilor positions were filled, one less than last year’s council. Incoming third-year chemical engineering student Hazel Anne Medina will head the local operations council, while incoming second-year electrical engineering student Marcus Tayo will be the next external affairs councilor.

Unit representatives for five departments were filled, leaving three—mechanical engineering, industrial engineering, and the representative for mining, metallurgical, and materials engineering—unfilled, largely due to having no candidates run for said positions.

Incoming third-year students Gelo Genova and Reine Catubag will be the unit representatives for the Department of Chemical Engineering, winning with 227 and 249 votes, respectively, against 35 abstentions.

The Institute of Civil Engineering will also have two unit representatives. Incoming second-year students Stephan Pastrana and Julien Adao won against 46 abstentions with 172 and 137 votes, respectively.

The Department of Geodetic Engineering, Department of Computer Science, and the Electrical and Electronics Engineering Institute will be led by a unit representative each.

Incoming second-year geodetic engineering student Yanna Belista will be the sole GE representative, garnering 154 votes against 24 abstentions. Incoming second-year computer science student Aljay Lacson will also be the sole CS representative, winning with 157 votes against 47 abstentions. Gabriel Mariñas will be the only EEE representative.

The Eng’g Representative to the USC, as well as unit representative positions for the remaining departments had no candidates and will likely be filled through special appointments set to occur in the first semester of the next academic term.

Only 2,092 out of the eligible 5,457 Eng’g student populace voted, representing a 38.34% turnout, higher than last year’s 38.01%. DChE and DGE had the highest turnout per college, with 75.00% and 63.35% of the respective students from either department participating in the USC and ESC elections.

For full results: https://sites.google.com/up.edu.ph/votewatchupd2026

NEWS UPDATE: San Miguel Holdings Corporation dropped its P7.78-billion Boracay bridge project due to public opposition, Aklan Governor Jose Enrique Miraflores announced Wednesday.

Local communities and the Ati indigenous group previously opposed the 2.54-kilometer bridge project that aimed to connect the Boracay island to mainland Aklan due to its possible impact on the island’s environment and cultural identity and its inhabitants’ livelihoods.

RELATED: phkule.org/article/1585