US TROOPS OUT!

“…Visiting Forces Agreement has taken away the victories of decade’s worth of Filipino struggle against United States intervention…,” claimed the secretary general of the League of Filipino Students, Terry Ridon, in a protest rally made in front of the US Embassy, Manila, last September 11, 2009 against the RP-US Visiting Forces Agreement as part of the LFS commemoration of their 32nd founding anniversary.

Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) is an agreement between a country and a foreign nation having military forces visiting in that country. US military has the largest foreign accounts of the said agreement. Typically, a VFA is mainly concerned with legal issues associated with military individuals and property. It includes issues like entry and exit into the country, tax liabilities, postal services, or employment terms for host-country nationals, but the most contentious are civil and criminal jurisdiction over the visiting forces.

In the country, the RP-US Visiting Forces Agreement became a major political issue. Last September 11, 2009, in front of the US Embassy in Manila, League of Filipino Students (LFS) lead the protest rally against VFA as part of the commemoration of the group’s 32nd founding anniversary. Terry Ridon, secretary general of LFS, felt that the victory of the Filipinos has been taken away because of the continued implementation of the agreement.

The militant youth group believed that the deployment of US military advisors and 660 armed troops in the country brought no good but harm, mainly because it promotes war rather than peace. The group is also convinced that the US government is using the September 11 bombing incident as an excuse to wage a war that strengthens its power and control of resources not only in the Philippines, but throughout the world. It opportunistically expands its “war on terrorism” in the country with the deployment of US troops in Mindanao region.

Majority of the Filipino people go up against the said deployment of US military personnel. Many dreaded that the conflict between the American troops and Philippine insurgents will lead to the deployment of more US troop in the region.

College of Communication's Discernment on Communication Research as a Program

Communication Research Program earned positive criticisms from the people embodying the College of Communication at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines last August 17, 2009. Students and professors alike knew very well the worth of offering the said course in the academe.

Communication Research which had been pioneered in the University of the Philippines-Diliman in the late 1950’s had been penetrated by the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (Bernarte, et. al). Previously it was only included as a subject in the Communication Program, yet afterwards, it was introduced to the communication students in its broader sense due to the established Communication Research Program that has been offered in the school year of 2006 up until now.

Three years after its implementation, the program will now produce its first batch of graduates on the year 2010. For this reason, an interview has been made to discern the perception of certain groups of people in PUP-College of Communication to evaluate Communication Research [ComRes], not only its students but the course offering as a whole.

A professor, administrative staff and students were interviewed regarding the matter. All of them have positive commentaries vis-à-vis the said program. One of them – Emver Cortez, a third year Journalism student – thought that a ComRes subject should have been included in his pre-requisites in his second year in MassComm. He claimed saying that “ComRes itself, foundation siya dapat ng communication studies ng bawat studies sa MassCom.” With this statement, the interviewers learned that ComRes isn’t only a course offering but is still a subject pre-requisite in other courses – Broadcast Communication and Journalism – and some students of the respective courses knew very well the importance of ComRes in their chosen fields as well.

Due to the implementation of the said course, the students will be aware of various communication research processes and techniques; with this, the college may produce quality researches and researchers whether in the field of ComRes, Broadcast or Journalism.

word play

forgive me... i'm a first timer here [blogging]... if it'll not be used for acad purposes, i'd rather be using w__dpr__s... haha! kidding! anyway, no exciting stories today... i'll try posing [a decent blog] next time... bye for now!

twiddles!

*wink wink*