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First Aid

Last November 11, 2019, I was able to take up my missed session of NSTP for the topic of first aid. The audio file that was given to me was a recording of an interactive radio which was hosted by Gian and Arleen. Their special guest was someone from the Philippine Red Cross who is Jay. 

As an introduction, it was discussed that Red Cross is a world organisation. The Philippines Red Cross is part of the 191 countries collaborating with this organisation. It is also considered as a humanitarian non-government organisation. It was established in 1859 which is first than the U.N. The general goal of the organisation is to protect the dignity of the people and promote to life that would give us extra help when there’s war and disasters. It also promotes voluntarism and humanitarianism. They also promote the concept of leadership. Its principle is that if anyone who needs help should be addressed. As a community, they consider everyone their brothers whatever the background of the person is. This community is an opportunity to all kinds wherein as early as 7 years old child can be a part of it until the age of 30 years old. As you start early in joining Red Cross, it is their goal to make sure you know your rights. As you grow with them, you would learn more things that would strengthen and achieve their principle such as lifesaving, blood, disaster management and youth development. They also make sure that each community they cater should ikon the hazards and risk of their locations. They also help solve the conflicts encountered such as natural calamities before, during and after it. These goals and principles provides a holistic plan for the betterment of the world.

On the next segment, they talked about the basic lifesaving [BLS] or also known as the “CPR” [cardiopulmonary  resuscitation]. It is an external chest oppression that would be a temporary aid for deprivation of oxygen, flow of the blood, stop of the heart and brain damage.This act has its own procedures that should be followed correctly to save someone’s life. First thing to do is to survey the surroundings wherein you should make sure there’s a safe place for both the victim and first aider. You should check the consciousness of the person and check its pulse rate. When doing the act, make sure that your body is in the right position. The victim should be laying flat to achieve the right alignment of the body. The duration of the act varies but it should be stopped when you revived them successfully. However, the rescue doesn’t stop here so the first aider should rush the victim to the hospital to hand over the job to the professionals to make sure the safety of the victim. This proves that first aiders are the link of the life of the person. So they make sure the act is being done correctly to the people assigned to this task by training them for 2 days.

On the third segment, it was clarified that first aid doesn’t only cater the BLS but a standard first aid can be done by anyone without the training given for BLS. It is not necessary life threatening to have first aid. They also discussed about the don’t and do’s when emergency strikes. When you’re not aware of the procedures of first aid, let the experts do the job and call the emergency hotline to make sure the patient would be saved without any harm. While waiting for the rescue, give assurance to the patient by making them know your presence. One of the most important thing you should not do is carry the patient without the help of the experts because it might cause additional damages to them. 

On the last segment, they mentioned their goal as a team. They would like to expound their community by  training 25 people for each trainer per week. They want that every household would have at least one first aider which should be achieved to ensure the safety of everyone when in need. 

Every life is important. We should help each other for the betterment of the world. 

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Citizenship and Nationalism

Last November 11, 2019, Citizenship and nationalism was the topic talked about by the same speaker last week who is Athena Presto. As an introduction, she explained the differences of the nation or the state. Nation is defined as something cultural and it has the feeling of belongingness. While the state, it is defined as something political. It was further explained by the three celebrities given to be compared if they are Filipinos. It was clarified that even if you’re not a pure blooded Filipino, you can be called a Filipino as long as you have some traits that most Filipinos has in the context of the nation. This is because it would be a different terms for the citizenship context of the person. 

She started discussing about the concept of nation and nationhood. In a nation, there’s always be a shared language, history, tradition and religion. Since our country is very young in terms of having our own identity, our concept of nationhood is still evolving and it is still ideal and benevolent. Because of this, there are many misconceptions. One of them is that Filipinos are unified but they are really diverse base on where they come from in any part of the Philippines. Another one is that the concept of nationhood is defined as a time in memorial but in reality it is a modern invention. It is also defined as essentially good but its is either good or bad. It actually depends on the situation. The next misconception is that it is powerful and empirical however it is really subjective. The last misconception discussed about nationalism is that it is universal however it is a discourse. It is a set of conversations which would know the context of a certain topic. 

In the next part of the talk, she expounded the definition of citizenship. There are three modes of citizenship which are “Jus Soli”(right to soil), “Jus Sanguinis” (right to blood) and Naturalisation. It was also discussed that the relationship of the citizen and the state should have responsibility to each other. It is our duty as citizen that we should be socially aware or be sensitive enough with our environment. It would be a bonus if we are political aware wherein we learn what is happening around you. 

Our citizenship is something that is universal, inalienable and indivisible. Because of this, it is our right to enjoy our freedom and benefits as citizens of the country. We should be able to assert and uphold our rights to respect the human rights of others.

As a citizen of the Philippines, she suggested on how we can avoid the misconceptions about nationalism and citizenship. Joining volunteer programs that would exercise more our rights as citizens. It would help us practice our freedom of speech and liberty that would benefit us and won’t threaten others. 

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Philippine Society, Culture and Politics

Last November 4, 2019, the topic that was presented to us is about the Philippine Society, Culture, and Politics. The guest speaker was a former UP Diliman student who is currently a professor in the university who is Athena Presto. 

She opened the issues about the politics such as the “epal” politics. An example of this is when officials make sure their names and faces are known when they do government projects. Corruptions is also very common that are done by some officials which badly affects the benefits of the people. There’s also called the “mob mentality” wherein the public is miseducated by the situations they see and they right away assume things without knowing the truth. This affects the socialisation of the people wherein the norms they know and behaviour of the people are greatly affected. Another issue is idolising wrong people that would brainwash the minds of the people that would make them handle things wrong in their life.

 She also gave examples of readings that would enlighten us about the issues happening to us. One of the is“Constantino’s “The Miseducation of the Filipino” which talks about the social phenomenon. He emphasised the fact that not all Filipinos can speak Filipino that in our country there’s a colonial imprint of the Americans in our culture and language. For him, this is something problematic because it helps diminish the identity of the Filipinos. Another issue explained is the separation of the religion and the state which the Philippines doesn’t have. The religion is a big influence of choosing the leaders and laws of the country. For example, INC made sure that their members to vote the same country leaders which gives no fairness to others. Also, Mccoy’s “An anarchy of families” talks about the political dynasty. This issue would cause the unfairness to the people as these families would tend to make rules for their own good first before the people they serve most of the time. Next is “Ong’s “Architects of Networked Disinformation” which showcases that most political parties use trolls as business. 

Lastly, she told us that the Philippine media is very influential and powerful in shaping the perspective of the Filipinos to this issues. This is when discrimination takes place and promote the inequality of the rights of the people. 

The perspective of every Filipinos that is miseducated by their surrounding should be stopped. Change should be evolving for the betterment of the welfare of everyone. We should also promote our Filipino identity for us to have a holistic country.

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Anti - Sexual Harassment Code [U.P]

Last October 28, 2019, the second topic that was discussed is Anti-Sexual Harassment Code of the University of the Philippines. This presentation was prepared by Remedios P. Mondiguing, PhD from the office of anti-sexual harassment. As an introduction, she mentioned their goal to make U.P. a sexual harassment free campus. She also stated the myths about sexual harassment. She mentioned about how the woman’s provocative behaviour is often responsible for sexual harassment. Also, we should be aware that men and women experience sexual harassment equally. There’s also a myth about supervisors not being responsible for the behaviour of his or her staff. The next one is ignoring sexual harassment puts a stop to the behaviour. The last myths elaborated was that individuals who harsss must be punished however there are complaints that are generally false or unjustified, motivated by vengeance or spite. 

The law about anti-sexual harassment was also introduced to us. It is the Anti-Sexual Harassment Act of 1995 (RA 7877). It is stated that it is “an act declaring sexual harassment unlawful in the employment, education or training environment”. There is also an UP Policy on anti-sexual harassment and it was ratified by the BOR on July 30, 1988. Also, the UP Anti-Sexual Harassment Code which was ratified by the BOR on January 26, 2017. 

The UP Policy provides a standard and guidelines on how to prevent and eliminate sexual harassment. All reports or complaints involving cases of sexual harassment within the UP community and partner entities requires to be acted upon by the University. They should also provide services that would help both parties to verify the incident. When verified, there should be a ground for disciplinary action. 

On the other hand, the coverage of the UP community is stated on the code which includes the teaching personnel, non-teaching personnel, student, other U.P. workers and U.P organisation. The community should avoid an act involving sexual harassment. It is defined as an unwanted, unwelcome, uninvited behaviour and a sexual in nature or inappropriate sexual advances or offensive remark about a person’s sex, sexual orientation or gender identity. The cases involved would be base on the abuse of authority or power. Another one is involving the peer relationship. The cases should only be committed inside the UP premises or outside Up premises in a work, education research, extension or related activity as long as one of the people involved would be considered as part of the UP community. For organisation related cases, “the liability for sexual harassment should extend to the officers of the organisation, who are registered students during the commission of the offense, and the organisation itself. The persons liable and the offenses made were also discussed for us to be aware of what kind of cases they would consider for justice. The person liable would receive a specific corrective measure depending on the offense made. 

As an additional provisions in the code, it  assures the confidentiality of the cases and there is also a prescriptive period wherein it should be within 4 years from the commission of the act. There is an orientation about anti-sexual orientation required to be attended by the UP community once every three years and a clearance would be provided to all. 

The effects on the victims are also provided on the orientation of the speaker. These should be avoided to happen to anyone so she suggested on how to avoid being harassed. Be aware of your surroundings especially in public places. As much as possible don’t be alone in meeting someone whom you barely know. We should also be careful on the internet in sharing private information or visuals. 

Lastly, she also shared some tips to save yourself when you are in that situation. Firmly shout loudly the word “STOP”. Make some noise and scream endlessly to attract the attention of the people nearby or outside. Use defence tactics to help you to leave the place immediately. 

Anyone could be the victim or the suspect so be careful at all times. Avoid these unfortunate situations to have a peaceful life. However, when uncontrolled situations occur, always be alert to save yourself from danger. 

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Environmental Management

Last October 28, 2019, The topic that was discussed in our NSTP class was environmental management. The guest speaker was Engr. Kristian July R. Yap who is a director of the Diliman Environmental Management Office and a pollution control officer in UP Diliman.

 As a starter, he explained that environmental management would be organised through social responsibility of the people. He also said that sustainability is one of the factors that could help the management of the environment. The sustainable development goals were also discussed during the talk which includes 17 factors that would help the stability of the environment.

Issues were tackled involving the environment. The first one was about the water crisis due to the water pollution that is evolving now. There has been lack of proper sever-age treatment and solid waste facilities to threaten coastal water quality. There are 180 of 421 rivers are polluted so 50 are biologically dead. The sanitation is very poor that would affect the species wherein water is part of their basic needs to live. The second one was about air pollution. In metro manila, 70-80% of air pollution is caused by motor vehicle emission. Public transportations such as buses and jeepneys uses diesel most of the time in their operation. It was emphasised that “waste is a resource in the wrong place at the wrong time. Once it finds its rightful place, it will be just as valuable as any other resource.”

It was also discussed the material flow and generation of solid wastes in society. We should value the 3R’s which is reduce, reuse and recycle. The waste management hierarchy was also explained to us. It is supported by the law stated in the Republic Act 9003 which is the the ecological solid waste management act of 2000. The speaker also told us some ways to help the reduction of waste by composting naturally. It is the natural means of recycling. There are 4 essential ingredients for composting which are nitrogen, carbon, water and air. There are also some prohibited acts implemented however the problem is that the people’s behaviour is not controlled. 

Lastly, The guest speaker suggested some solutions that would help the waste management. The first one is to form a committee or core group. The next is to create a solid waste management plan. The third plan is to enforce environmental laws. The last plan is to establish a materials recovery facility. 

People should be more cautious in their actions to the environment because the waste management is being affected badly that would makes us more suffer. We should be more disciplined and follow the proper waste management to lessen the calamities we experience. 

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Disaster Risk Reduction

Last October 14, 2019, the topic that was discussed in the auditorium was about disaster risk reduction. The guest speaker was a senior lecturer from the department of geography who is Jake Rom Cadag. He started the discussion with why should we tackle about disasters. He explained that in the Philippines itself there are millions of lives affected by it. The disasters occur in the Philippines results from the people’s poverty, discrimination and marginalization. By this data, we should be alarmed and make some action to let this not happen to us again.

On the second part of the discussion, he associated disasters with the natural hazards. There are four categories of disaster risk reduction namely hazard, exposure, vulnerabilities and capacities. There are examples for each categories that would determine the factors we should remember to be aware of our surroundings. For hazards, earthquake, flooding, landslides, etc. are under this factor. For the second one which is exposure, hospitals, market, schools, etc are the affected areas. For vulnerabilities, the issues under this category are poverty, fragile shelters, heath, other problems, etc. For the last one which is capacities, this factor would help us when disasters occur such as insurance, first aid, trainings, evacuation drill and many more. 

On the next part, he reminded us about the meaning of climate change. It happens when there is an increase of temperature, extreme precipitation or lack of precipitation and sea-level rise. He also shared the issue about the neglected disaster such as the small scale flood. This happens often during rainy season which is from June to November. The marginalised areas are greatly affected by the 1-2 feet floodwater stuck in their areas and the ash falls near the volcanoes. These would lead to health problems, transportation issues, livelihood and many more on those areas. The neglected disasters is considered equal or even greater than the damages of a major disasters.

Based on the factors of the disaster risk reduction, the results of the solutions we should take into actions is that we should prevent the hazards by promoting and doing ecological friendly activities such as waste management programs. Second is that the exposure should be lessen. The hazards and exposure are mostly handled by the government which is poorly implemented such as DOST NOAH, public polls and government projects associated with disaster risk reduction. There are certain areas that are prone to disasters which should be restricted areas however, due to the population increase, it is not avoided that some shelters of people are built in these places. Lastly, there should be an increase of capacities that would help us during disasters. 

With all of this information, we should be alarmed with our situation because these disasters are not only because it is a natural thing but it is also because of  our shortcomings to take care our mother earth. It is our responsibility to save our home to live the life that was given to us without disasters that would greatly affect us badly. If we continue to be irresponsible about this, we might end up living suffering by our mistakes. 

Be responsible and save the earth.

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Gender and Development

For the third meeting, the topic discussed was about Gender and Development. Ivanka Custodio was the invited guest again for this talk. She explained the differences of gender, sex and sexuality. These three terms are considered complicated because it is often misunderstood by most of the people. Gender is the social relations between men and women. This is when men and women express themselves in varying degrees of masculinity and femininity. There are more than 2 gender identities such as transgender, genderqueer and etc. As for the meaning of sex, its is categorised on the biological system of sexual reproduction of human beings. For sexuality, it is categorised more than 2 identities such as bisexual, asexual, homosexual and etc. 

On the other hand, she also explained about the gender roles and stereotypes given by the society appropriate for men and women. Thus, it causes the unfairness and unequal treatment between men and women. The society divides the gender roles and stereotypes through power relations, family, education, religion and market & media. As for power relations, masculinity is more valued over femininity. There are more power given to men than women. It is also based on how we define power. As for family, the father is considered as the “breadwinner” and the mother is considered as the “household”. As for education, activities and practices are gendered. The roles and stereotypes are reinforced in classrooms. Then for religion, God is referred as a “He” in most religions. The religious text are mostly based on  gendered structured. The male figure gives more impact to the rights. Lastly, market and media has gendered imagery/ symbolism. As an example, the reputation of women as sexual objects which mostly influence the advertisements. This proves the reinforcement of gender roles and exceptions of the masses. 

Hence, the gender and human rights are mostly affected because of the challenges faced by the people. Most of us are still lacking on the differences of the types of gender. This greatly affects the understanding of the society of the diversity and complexity of sex, gender and sexuality. Because of this, the equity of gender should be implemented more to achieve that fairness for everyone. The people should avoid the discrimination among the unfamiliar genders and sexuality which promotes unity among us. We should always respect the human rights of other people which avoids the gender-based violence whether it is physical, sexual, psychological and economical. We should  promote non-binary languages to avoid being offensive to other people. We should be considerate on the fact that the sex of the person does not define the gender and sexuality they see as themselves. Every person has the right to be not judged as the stereotypes given by the society. Everybody is given that freedom to live their lives happily and how they want it to be. The diversity should not affect the roles of each person as it makes us discriminate the capacity of the person to do something. 

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Human Rights and Dignity for everyone

For the second meeting, human rights and dignity for everyone was the topic discussed to us by Ivanka Custodio. She categorised her presentation into different part such as the principles, violations, types, examples, history of human rights and dignity and solutions for human right issues. 

 For the first part, she explained the principles in into 4 categories. The first one is that it is universal and inalienable. Human rights are for everyone that could be used at all times in every part of the world. It also can’t be taken away from you because it would violate the freedom given to us. Next is that it is interdependent and indivisible. Every right has its connection so if one is violated, there would be a domino effect to the other rights that would either have a positive or negative outcome. The third one is that it is equal and non-discriminatory. Rights should be implemented to make sure that the people are protected equally. Lastly,  it is our obligation to follow the rules that would respect, protect and fulfil the rights of everyone.

For the next part, violations, types and examples were discussed. human rights violations was divided into 2 which are commission and omission. On the other hand,  some of the types stated were civil & political rights and economic social & cultural rights. As for civil & political rights, people has the freedom of expression that gives us the right to vote, run for office and etc. Privacy and freedom from torture are also included in this category. As for economic social & cultural rights, the right for education, work, health and others are included in this category. The speaker also briefly stated the international human rights law that is also categorised into different system which is composed of a variety of core human rights instruments. There are two systems called Treaty-based bodies and Charter-based bodies. The instruments under the treaty-based bodies are CESCR, HRC, CRC, etc. While in charter-based bodies, the UN Human Rights Council and special procedures are part of it. 

For the third part, the history was talked about by the speaker which explained the concept of human rights. The concept of human rights existed during the creation of civilizations but it was only modernised during the post World War II. The standards for justice, freedom and ethical behaviour are somehow ever-changing throughout the history.  The more people collectively claim their rights, the more it expands. 

Lastly, the speaker shared some human right issues we face today in the Philippines. Some of the common issues are poverty & lack of access to basic needs, extra judicial killings, lumad killings, violence against women and discrimination against LGBTQI persons. As students, she suggested some solutions we could do to help promote and execute our rights properly. The first one is to adopt a human right based approach in NSTP. Second, speak-up & educate others and respect other people’s rights. Finally, join human rights organisations that would enlighten us more about the issues today connected to human rights. 

After this talk, I’ve realised that the concept of human rights is really important and we should acknowledge it wisely. We should strictly follow the rules involving human rights because it would help us achieve the fairness that the people deserves. Simply respecting our diversity and protecting our individual rights would help build a better community. However in reality, not all is given these kind of rights because of lack of knowledge about it. As the speaker suggested, to those who is aware of these kind of rights, we should educate and help them for better understanding that would promote equality among us. The authorities should spread this awareness more to those who have difficulties in accessing their rights. They should also put some action to make solutions to the current issues against our rights. The implementation of our government should be stronger as the instruments provided would be used well for all and not only a few of us. Hence, human rights issues could not be avoided, people should realised that as early as now, we should slowly but surely fight for our rights. Fighting for our rights would make a change that would alarm the indifferent authorities to help them realise that they should do their jobs well. Because of this, innocent people are also affected because of these issues that invalidates their rights as human beings. People should unite and have the initiative to start promoting justice and freedom that would cater the needs of everyone. Lastly, as part of the society today, we should always remember that human rights are ever-changing in a way it is expanded to meet the needs of different people that would compromise to the different perspectives made about the issues today. 

Fight for our rights. Help the people in need even in the smallest possible way for justice and freedom. Understand and compromise with other people for fairness. We deserve to live with respect and dignity.

[czadelapaz]

Self and Others

Last September 2, 2019, there was a lecture session held at the IB Auditorium about Self and Others. The guest speaker was Michelle Yzabel Alcantara. She discussed about the concept of “kapwa” It is about a sense of identification with any other. As two people overlaps, it should recognise and accept its differences to achieve the concept of the shared identity. Hence, people should focus more on their similarities to avoid dehumanisation, judgements, categorical thinking, discrimination and etc. She also focused on the relationships among people. The diversity among people makes every social interaction unique that identifies the relationship of a certain group of people. There’s two types of social interaction which are “ibang tao” (IT) and “hindi bag tao”(IT). IT level is when you interact with other people with more formality and stiffness. While for HIT, it is a level when there’s mutual comfort between them. The diversity of the people is also based on the intersectionality. There’s this imaginary line between the marginalised and privileged in our reality that makes it possible for the people to have this different perspective in any other circumstances we face in life. It affects our thinking, feelings and actions in responding to situations we face. The marginalised has this tendency to be negative and careful in their thinking, feelings and actions because they think they are limited in everything. On the other hand, the priviledged has this tendency to have a positive outlook in life as they have more freedom in making their decisions to survive. They have this benefit to have connections with the powerful people in the society. They also have this thinking of maintaining their ideal status to survive in life. Lastly, she also shared her experiences and thoughts about outreach programs. It made her realised the needs and perspective of these marginalised people are different.

After this talk, I’ve realised that the society needs to have a wake up call and outreach programs for the marginalised more. The sense of negativity from them should be changed slowly so they would enjoy their lives more. Through outreach programs, it is our duty to help and understand them to unite the society. Emersions and interacting with others in a positive and right manner would be a way to cut that imaginary line between the people. It might be a long journey to adjust with everyone’s diversity so I think that we should start as early as possible. This is to achieve a smooth sailing relationship with others. The privileged should also be careful with their actions and try to understand that the benefits they have should be shared with them. These benefits could be shared in different ways that would enlighten the outlook of life in a positive way. However, the process of change for the better would only work if both parties would adjust and work hand in hand together. Lastly, the feeling of contentment and the desire to aim high should be balanced out to live happily with other people and not alone.

No one is an island.