Lack of dorms

Three hundred UP Diliman students slept in offices and the Sunken Gardens as they were denied dorm space last week at Diliman.

Some of them were given dorm space but they could not afford the P1,500 to P3,000  dorm fees being charged.

UP Diliman Chancellor Michael Tan said Friday the problem has been solved but several students denied that.  They had not been given dorm assignments and continued to sleep at the UP Workers Union offices.

Tan said the problem came about when they expanded the number of freshmen admitted by 800.  That’s not a valid excuse.  They should have provided additional dorm space to house the 800 additional enrollees.

The lack of dormitories is a problem in all colleges and universities, causing students to stay in unsafe boarding houses outside the campus.

Recall that 3 UP Los Baños coeds were raped and killed as they were walking towards their boarding houses outside the campus.  There are enough vacant spaces in UP campuses to build additional dorms.

In the United States, all state universities and even private universities have dorms available for all students.

In the state universities and colleges in the provinces, many students come from surrounding provinces or far away towns of the province causing undue hardship and cost to enrolled students.

PDAF and DAP funds should be appropriated to build dormitories.  Benguet State University, Mariano Marcos State University, Western Visayas State University, Visayas State University, University of Mindanao and almost all others have no dorms provided for students.

UP Diliman has a big increase in its budget.  It should rush building additional dorms for at least 300 freshmen.

Sigma Rho, Upsilon, APO, Sigma Beta and other big fraternities and sororities can also raise funds from rich alumni to build fraternity and sorority houses.  Individual members can sponsor  poor students and pay for their dorm rentals.

Politics in a pigsty

Ex-Chief Justice Reynato Puno in a forum on Constitutional reforms at the Baguio Convention Center said that more Filipinos are suffering from poverty.

Puno said spin doctors are at work to portray their candidates as saviors.  “As always in their kinds of political exercises, the first victim is the truth,” Puno said.

“Politics in the Philippines have remained in the pigsty because these spin doctors have succeeded a lot in burying the truth,” Puno added.

Puno batted for a shift to a parliamentary government that would end corruption, decentralize government and make growth truly intensive. He also batted for the passage of the Anti-Dynasty Bill and the Freedom of Information Bill.

He decried the fact that presidential candidates have not yet released their platforms of governance and why they qualify as saviors.

But, it is still too early to release platforms of governance until certificates of candidacy are filed in October.

4 presidential bets     

The New York based think tank, Global Source predicted a four-cornered fight for President in 2016, but without any clear front runner yet in sight.

Global Source gave the opinion that Sen. Grace Poe’s running would be favorable to VP Binay as she would divide with Sen. Mar Roxas the administration voters.  In the past surveys, Binay has a hardcore support base of 26-34%.

Lack of water, wow!

After MRT and LRT problems and electricity brownouts, here comes water shortage in Manila, Pasay, Makati, Las Piñas, Caloocan, Parañaque, Muntinlupa, Bacoor, Imus and several towns in Cavite and Cavite City.

Maynilad is distributing water through 35 water tankers as 40% of its customers will suffer shortage.

Consumers were advised to boil the water if intended for drinking or cooking.

This administration is certainly failing to deliver basic services to the public.

Duterte not running

Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte emphatically told a meeting of the Manila Jaycees that he is not running for president in 2016 because of three reasons:   

1) He is too old (70 years old);

2) He has no money;

3) His family is against his running.

Only one of the three reasons is really correct — He has no money.

For the presidency, an estimated P2 billion minimum is required.

The independent personality like Duterte will not attract the major contributors.

Tidbits. . .

Seventy-one year old Nora Eubanas was shot dead inside her sport utility vehicle in front of the Malate Catholic church.

Her grandson Michael Eubanas, 22, was wounded.  Witnesses said the assailant escaped on foot towards Remedios street.

Sixty-nine persons suffered food poisoning during a wedding reception in Iloilo; 21 students of Batangas State University were hospitalized for food poisoning.

Vice President Jejomar Binay has visited almost all the towns of vote-rich Pangasinan.

The Binay camp has asked DOTC Sec. Joseph Abaya to resign for failure to solve MRT and LRT breakdowns.

Over 700 new HIV cases were recorded in June.

Janet Napoles said not all involved in the PDAF scam have been charged.