“If you work for a man in heaven’s name, work for him, speak well of him and stand by the institution that he represents…”
- Elbert Hubbard
Perhaps, Secretary of Justice Raul Gonzalez was thinking of this line in defense of Arroyo’s administration when he dropped the words, “That school that builds destabilizers every year…” pertaining to the University of the Philippines and its students. Yes, it is just but right to defend the institution [government] that he works for but not to the extent of questioning the kind of students that UP breeds and even the culture that every UPan grows up into. Why question the culture when it should not even be in question. Yes, there may be men and women running naked. So what? It is an expression of what they believe in and it is what makes UP different from the others, even from your [Gonzalez's] school. UPans are unconventional, accept that fact.
I once told myself that it is undeniably an irony how the government subsidizes its budget for UP and yet, the same students that it supports are the same people who go against it. The cliché “biting the hands that feed you” can simply be applied to the situation. But being thankful of the budget given by the state should not be equated with being silent of the mistakes and offenses it commits. Perhaps, that was what our dear Secretary forgot.
Being an Iskolar ng Bayan entails a lot of responsibility. It is not all about the prestige [like what other people think] that goes with the name but also, the duty to give something back to the people. And that includes checking the excesses of the government, even if, as Gonzalez put it, “the state is the one paying” for our schooling and so, “why try to bring it down”. Yes, there should be some gratitude that is why UPans rally and shout in the streets to let the people know that there is something wrong.
As a UPan, I firmly believe that I owe my gratitude to the people and not to the government. In the first place, if Gonzalez can assure that the Philippines is indeed in good governance then, perhaps, everyone would just sit back and relax just like “well-behaved” individuals. But then, he seems to be blinded only by the good things that “his” government does. He refuses to see beyond.
Poverty. Corruption. Political Killings. The things that every UPan loathes of.
Secretary Gonzalez, unlike you, UPans are not blind of the felony of the government; they are not deaf to hear the muffled cries of those who died for their beliefs and they are not mute to scream what they believe in. They are bright and good, you yourself, said so.
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