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Mocha’s shenanigans

By Maria Fatima Estoesta

It is not new to many Filipinos every time Mocha Uson is ranting about so many societal issues, especially in social media because of her “Mocha Uson Blog." This creates commotion among the people, whether they are in favor or not.

Mocha Uson is firstly known from a sexy girl group named “Mocha Girls." She is a big supporter of President Rodrigo Duterte. She was first appointed as a board member of Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) and later on became the Presidential Commissions Operations Office (PCOO) Assistant Secretary. Many Filipinos have wondered why she was appointed as a board member considering her background as a member of a “sexy girl group." Who would dare say she can be a role model to the youth?

Uson’s videos uploaded in her blog, together with her friend Drew Olivar, are mostly about random things that set the Philippines on fire. Some netizens are taking their side, saying its purely just for fun but others are saying that it is greatly offensive. Especially when they rant about the Liberal Party namely the Vice President Lenny Robredo, accusing her of so many things that can be sued for libel. Uson and her supporters even resorted to calling the people, fighting against her, a “Dilawan” or a Liberal Party supporter.

People also named her as the “Fake News Queen." For instance, she posted on her blog: “Pray for the soldiers fighting for Marawi." On the bottom is a picture of soldiers from a different country.

Another is when she said on one of her videos that the Mayon Volcano is in Naga City and later on revoked her own statement saying that Mayon Volcano is in Bicol, which she was laughed at by the Bicolanos and even became a meme on social media. And there are many more cases like these.

Not long ago, she posted a video on her blog about Federalism that, according to her, is to lecture the public about it. Drew Olivar danced a jingle they created entitled, “Pepedederalismo” while pointing on his private parts and singing. Some says it’s catchy, other says it’s complete obscenity.

But do you think that's the end of it? Oh no. There has been another video recently posted on her blog. It was a video of Olivar doing sign language, mimicking the deaf and mute people like it’s some kind of joke, which is very disrespectful for the Deaf and Mute Community. Resulting them to file a case against Uson and Olivar.

Now, Uson resigned as PCOO Asec, creating a big fuss among Filipinos. Her supporters are disappointed and others are joyous because of the news. But some are worrying that Uson’s resignation is her first step in running as a senator this coming 2019 election.

Truly, Mocha has ways in stealing the spotlight and owning it. She knows how to stir social media and the Filipinos. But would her ways bring her to victory?

Filipinos of today’s generation need, a role model especially the children. Would she be fit to be a role model if every time she opens her mouth people will hear vulgar words?

Think of all the children that see her and try to imitate her. Children are the future of every nation so they must be protected from all harm that will ruin their innocence, pure heart, and bright minds at all cost. Would Mocha Uson be of any help to protect the children?

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Unjustified Emptiness

By Cyrelle A. Nuñez

In purchasing food, do we really consume everything we paid for?

With the three billion populace of the human race, inconsistencies and inequality is inevitable, developed countries receive more than enough of food supplies, but undeveloped, challenged and economically unstable countries suffer from hunger and malnutrition due to trifling access to food.

However, even developed countries are also facing problems like hunger, most commonly because of poverty which is never completely eradicated.

People can’t seem to have enough.

According to a research, for the past two decades there has been growth with the food production 1 ½ times than the global population growth. Investors and food companies overly prepared for the worse to the point that they’ve overlooked the sole reason why they produce food, it is to feed.

Some says it is not scarcity that causes hunger all over the globe, it is poverty and inequality. The excess production of food represents the greed of the people to earn money. In a supermarket, not everything is sold. What happens to the fruits, vegetables, canned goods, and etc. once they spoil or rot? They are simply thrown away.

When an item – fruit or anything, is not sold and it rots, expires and unable to be consume, we are simply justifying the greed of these capitalists. We are being unfair to the people who can’t even buy a decent meal for themselves.

People die of hunger, and we can all be sympathetic about it, that’s the least thing we can all do.

The actual amount of food that’s being harvested barely even reaches our plates, worst the stomach. Some companies would rather throw food than actually give them to those poor ones.

This should be a lesson for us people that we should start purchasing food according to our appetite, the tendency is when we put too much on our plate without even having the assurance of finishing it, and we are being part of the irresponsibility.

It is highly comprehensible that these big companies will not produce massive and over flowing food supply if not for the people’s need to excessively purchase.

We owe it to hunger and the people who struggle to survive the day even without food in their stomach. At least just by finishing the food in our plates, we can be fair to them. There’s no justice for them, the people deprived of food to eat, when there’s a whole industry of food throwing and wasting.

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Why Filipinos Like Fake News

By Kreizel Bojero

As I start this opinion article in the English language, more than 50% of the targeted readers would have scrolled down, completely ignoring the lesson from this.

The title would have piqued their interest, but the choice of the word ‘pique’ would make 20% of the remaining readers contemplate on what the word meant. Of course, having to do so would mean opening their Merriam Dictionary which would mean leaving their Facebook app which would be problematic as 50% of them are reliant on mobile data.

But let’s go back to my first statement, shall we?

More than 50% of the targeted audience would have disregarded this message because of the language barrier. One may argue that majority of the Filipinos can now understand the basic English terms. That is true— so many teenagers are tweeting in English language, adults have shared online content with English captions. Even those who did not undergo proper schooling can understand basic English words and be able to answer questions from confused tourists.

As we accept that Filipinos have already mastered the art of basic, we also accept that we have no longer raised our standards when it comes to contextualizing it. Want an example? Ask them the difference between lie and lay. Or if they know that lie has another usage, apart from untruth? How about nauseous and nauseated?

But of course, this is not a grammar test. This is simply pointing out that most Filipinos may have learned the English language but has never fully understood it. This may be a simple problem… but put it together with fake news and you have a widespread dissemination of misinformation.

Here’s the reason why.

During my summer internship in Metro Manila, we were confronted with the busy streets of EDSA, the rush hour in MRTs, and the overwhelming human traffic in Divisoria. People have been too engrossed in their daily races so a few minutes on social media becomes their escape from reality.

These people, from my observation, look for something attractive to their eyes. When it comes to their news preference, headlines with intrigue are the ones they click. Precisely the reason why “sensationalism” has been an adversary of media for some time.

Since Philippines has been dubbed as the most active on social media for three consecutive years. Paired this with 103. 6 million people in the Philippines, based in the 2016 Worldometers data, this poses a problematic situation. How many of them then are in the National Capital Region (NCR)? Philippine Statistics Authority tells us that based on the 2015 Census of Population, there are 12, 877, 253 Filipinos.

Thus, the amount of time spent by a number of Filipino people should be deeply considered.

Imagine nearly 13 million people on the most progressive part of the country where their internet connection is in better condition than most regions. Three-fourths of this population are able to read and write as well as afford smartphones that can have access to fake news websites. The same number has only less than a half who can contextualize the English terms.

More than half of this people in the National Capital Region click news which can cater to their grassroots— Filipino language. Then there comes the questions, “Why are the fake news that usually go viral are written in Tagalog?” “Why are they less inclined to read news from Inquirer, Star, Manila Bulletin and other credible sources?”

The answer lies on the number of people left reading this article at this point of time.

“This is too long and boring. This is in English. I’d rather read articles in Filipino so I could easily understand it. This website has more creative titles and pictures,” as these fake news lovers would like to reason out.

 Ladies and gentlemen, this is why Filipinos like fake news.    

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Suicide effects in the Philippines

By Jomari B. Castigador Since I grew up on the country that is full of Catholic people, I had already adapted most of the Catholic beliefs particularly the 10 commandments of God. Wherein at the fifth number of the commandments said, 'Thou shall not kill'. So, as God forbid for killing someone, killing yourself is not an exemption. In this issue, I found it dangerous to watch the released American series entitled "13 Reasons Why," especially now that there is already the second season, it is a series that portrays a high school girl who committed suicide when she was demoralized by selected individuals at her school. I found it hazardous due to the horrifying number of suicide cases in the Philippines arise, in which most of them were teenagers. Based on Department of Health (DOH), World Health Organization (WHO) and Philippine Health Statistics, there were 2,053 cases of suicide in the year 2013. The age bracket of the highest number of suicide was 20-24, it has 342 cases, 279 of it were males and 63 were females. There is also an increasing number of suicide among the youth, particularly in the age group 5 to 14 and 15 to 24. When you read this alarming number of people committing suicide, you will surely think: What could be the possible reason behind this cases? Of course, number one of those is depression. According to psychiatrists, when a man is suffering from depression there are a lot of things that would possibly bombard his mind depending on how severe it is. This is the time when he would begin to think ending his life for him to also end his woes. Watching this kind of show might possibly trigger a person who is in verge of intense melancholy. If you dare to watch it, you should have a great caution, you should also avoid recommending it to your friends or acquaintances who did not still watch it, because you'll never know what he or she is going through. As a person, you might always remember that suicide might not punishable by human law, but certainly it is punishable by the law of God. You should always think your love ones that you will left behind before deciding to kill yourself. Because no one knows what will happen next after ending your life.

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Desensitized

 The trust of the people is left to the government during election through casting of votes. In some parts of the country, the trust is reduced as a source of income through vote buying. This then resonates a message that even before being elected, corruption runs in the politicians. However, despite the glaring problem in our system, we, the people, still rely on the government simply because we expect them to deliver.

But what happens when they do not meet our expectations? Certain situations have proved that the government became passive in dealing with the country’s supposed to be most priority above all other national problems— the minority, the people who are tearing blood to make ends meet every day, the people who find themselves jobless in the coming months, weeks or days of their lives.

What happens, then?

We complain and protest. The adversarial nature of the Filipinos is untameable. Our culture was established to be brave and fearless. We were all oriented how to fight for ourselves and our rights, simply because our history told us how.

We complain a lot, and the government needs it anyway. Even if it takes going against our fellow Filipinos who are in the position to degrade and tamper our privileges. We definitely make ways to be heard. But have they gone immune to everything that has been happening to the country and all the protests, complaints?

The 6.4% inflation rate justifies the inability of the government to foresee the economic health of the country. If for President Rodrigo Duterte, this is normal and a sign of a growing economy, it is fair enough to admit and agree that it is slowly becoming normal, that Filipinos are somehow obliged to get used to it. Low-wage earners now struggle with the price of rice hiking up and other commodities as well. Worse, the most affected sector, the poor and marginalized, are being told by the government to discipline themselves and to just plant vegetables if they can’t afford the commodities.

Before August’s inflation climbed up, the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Act was implemented. The President believes that the added revenue will be a great help in running the country. Collected taxes under TRAIN law will be allotted to free education and building of tertiary schools. But then, this is the other side of the story.

Contractual workers remain contractual without raise. But with the increase of these prices, how will they be able to survive their everyday lives? It’s a punch into a thin air that all the basic commodities’ prices increase while salaries stay the same.

This shows how the government becomes desensitized to our concerns and burdens that they just present us alternatives that even worsen the situation. In what country have you heard the officials tell their constituents to just behave and suck it up?

The administration is so used to these kinds of problems and it has become terrifying that they seem laid-back and trying to normalize important issues. When in fact, the minority are suffering under their noses and they are acting cool about it.

Protests and complaints have become taboo in the eyes and ears of the people working inside the government. They do what they think is best for the country but their actions do not reflect the current status of the minority.

Though the administration’s first obligation is to the people, it has yet to give more effort to foresee the welfare of the people. We have a democratic form of government and it is still a challenge until now to be sworn, truly one.

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Mental Health, support system

By Katrin Kay Ricasio

Despite the allotted highest fund by the Department of Health of more than 1 billion for mental health projects, some are wondering if how these funds will benefit the growing number of suicidal attempts and acts by youths or further dominate the prevalence rate in the long run.

With the number of 18 registered suicide cases by the Albay Police Provincial Office (APPO) as of the end of April this year, youths aging 15 to 29-year-olds were included and identified.

It was in 2016 that the ALBAY PPO recorded the total number of suicide cases with 24, in which the DOH Bicol has also implemented the World Health Organization’s program in 2008, the “Mental Health Gap” (mhGAP) that aims to address the lack of care for people that suffer from such disorders under the cluster of Non-Communicable Disease Prevention and Control (NCDPC).

However, this program strategy seems to have no effect for the growing number of youths who commits suicide due to depression caused by financial, study, family, and relationship problems. If not, those who ‘cut’ through the use of a blade to find the relief physically.

This was described by Dr. Cornelio Banaag,Jr., the Philippine Mental Health Association President as “very disturbing” act of young people who undergo “cutters.”

Despite the burden of depression leading to suicidal acts of young people, Bishop of Legazpi Diocese, Joel Baylon said that prevention needs to start at home by the allotted time of the parents. The support of family was also proved to be an effective way on the study conducted by Mark Anthony Quintos, a UP student entitled, “Prevalence of Suicide Ideation and Suicide Attempts among the Filipino Youths and Its Relationship with the Family Unit.”

Quintos mentioned, “During the younger stages of one’s life, the family stands as the most important thing in the person’s life. Therefore, problems in the family unit become especially influential in the person’s life.”

Now, with these two systems that every youth should get from the government and its family, mental health programs will possibly take an effect if each sector will realize how important their roles in strengthening every individual who suffers from this health problems.

Thus, if the Philippines invest and establish health facilities, programs and projects, especially in the increasing rate of youth suicide cases for the same reasons, health budget will not be questioned with the detriments of the public critiques as youth advocates recently hailed the passage of Philippine Mental Health Law.

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On media and its impact to the youth

By Kristine Joy M. Perez 

Media is one of the main sources of information of today. And for the people, especially the youth, it helps them to be aware to the happenings of the world. Media is already a part of our daily lives because it plays an outstanding  role in disseminating information and shaping the public opinions. But do these people realize  how about the media practitioners are risking their lives just to give them accurate and realible information? Because in reality, the life being a media practitioner today is becoming risky.

One incident is when the radio announcer, Joey Llana was killed by multiple gunshots while driving his car on his way to work, around 4:45 am last July 20, 2018. Llana  is a blocktimer at DWZR AM, holding programs Metro Banat (5:30 a.m- 7:00 a.m) and  Arangkada Daraga a sponsored program of Local Government Unit in Daraga every Saturday at 9:00 a.m to 10:00 a.m.

Llana brother, Jun stated that Llana received death threats from an unknown individual before his death. Llana known for fearless tirades to local politicians, businessmen, uniform personnel and even fellow practitioners because of the information of dirty politics and corruption they are given to the people. And because of this issue it affects the practice of community journalism.

Media killing is one of the biggest issues today especially to the world of journalism. There is a lot of media practitioner killings that happened and yet, people did not even bothered to care and condemn this kind of crime. 

There are lots of aspiring journalists. However, because of this issue it affects their decision of pursuing the profession. Furthermore, according on a study, increasing cases of media killings is one of the reasons why majority of the community journalists are shifting to another profession. Some would rather work at the government office and some of them chose to become teachers because they do not want to risk their life  and  become one of the victims. And it is disappointing that the government is failing to bring immediate justice for the death of many killed journalist in the country. No wonder that the Philippines is still considered by many as one of the most dangerous countries for the press.

Youth once looked up to the media practitioners. But due to the latest controversies that others throw to these professionals  such as being biased, “presstitutes,” and “fake news” the people, especially the youth, are beginning not to care anymore. If the issue on the media killings affect them to drown with the information on the political issues and killings of media practitioner. Then, they will start desensitize and feel nothing despite of the reality that there are, indeed, threats in the lives.

Youth are easily influenced to the things they see. Some sensitive people can sometimes lead to depression and suicidal thoughts of the youth when they always see news about media practitioners killed because of their profession. Media is a powerful tool as it can influence youths in making decision, influence of media killing can also affect the youth by thinking that the killings or violence is just a normal act for them.

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The Montagues of today's generation.

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Builders or Wreckers? Access to social media and the right to freedom of expression

By Krizzia Angeli D. Millena 

We live in an era of interactive computer-mediated technology. Social Media is widely used. The use of Social media is the new avenue that facilitates the creation and sharing of information, ideas, career interests and a platform for other forms of expression via virtual communities and networks. 

We live in a time where almost everything is one click away. With a single click, with a single post, we can already engage with the world. The virtue of media is its influence, its wide access, powerful and intriguing. With a few blocks, it aims to build the world. And with a few blocks, it has built much.

Users typically access social media sites to connect with old friends and extended family more accessible. Social Media sites allow people to see what a person has been up to lately. It keeps us posted and updated what’s in the “world out-there”. They also allow people to make groups and keep track of events those groups are having with ease of access so others interested can attend and help the group grow.

Posting personal opinions and information on these social media sites can lead to unwanted hate or humiliation from one’s peers and could cost them future employment opportunities. Via web-based technologies on desktops and laptops, or download services that offer social media functionality to their mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. They introduce substantial and pervasive changes to communication between organizations, communities, and individual and changes the way individuals and large organizations communicate.

Freedom of Expression. This is what we hold on to whenever we post anything we want or when we rant on Social Media sites like Facebook, Twitter, or even from our very own blog sites. We utter and express our ideals and aspirations, engage, interact, and participate during public discourse, and express our insights and opinion in the comment section. We value and owe much to the idea of freedom of speech and expression that we often times forget our duties and responsibilities to what we utter.

The Freedom of Expression protects your right to hold your own opinions and to express them freely. According to Article 10, the law also protects your freedom to receive information from other people by, for example, being part of an audience but we also have a duty to behave responsibly and to respect other people’s rights. Two of them is limited to protect health or morals of others and to protect the rights and reputations of other people. Due to misuse of these social websites people get into situations they do not want to be in such as cyber bullying or being stalked, or being bashed by others who also engage in the issue or situation.

Builders or wreckers? Personal information is personal and can get a person into unwanted trouble. These sites need to be used with precaution of keeping personal information from causing conflict with the people who may see it. We are entitled to express ourselves, our views, and opinions but with reservations. Each one of us needs to regulate what we post on these sites to maintain an orderly environment of public discourse. One must be responsible to what he or she is sharing to the world.

Personal opinion is a big way to get into trouble, sure Juan Dela Cruz might have a big head, but everyone else has their own opinion on his head size and he does not want to have how big his head is posted to one of these sites. These is where the, “Think before you click” cliché comes in.

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This blog is brought to you by 7/11 of Journalism 4A.

Bojero, et al, 2018.