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Bedan students, Bedan teachers/professors, Bedan employees, you are known for your great awareness and active participations in the different socio-political issues haunting our totality as Filipinos. Let us now open your minds and hearts to the different issues haunting your identity as a BEDAN. YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW…

Whatever happened to the issue on Magna Carta of the students?  The issue on uniform policy? Why are the prime voices of these issues gone? Is it because they were threatened or silenced by administrators? One sure thing, suppression and abuse of power will continue then. Will the new student council members continue the fight or will just say a sweet “YES” to the powers? We’ll see…

Did you know that the rector-president issued a memorandum regarding the increase of tuition and miscellaneous fees (affecting the College of Arts and Sciences, College of Nursing, College of Law, and Basic Education Department)? In that particular memorandum, he quoted the CHED (Commission on Higher Education) General Memorandum No. 19 Series of 1999, DECS (Department of Education, Culture and Sports) Order Nos. 21 & 21-A Series of 1993, DECS Order No. 20 Series of 1994, and DECS Order No. 12 Series of 1997. But if you will see CHED Memorandum no. 19 series of 1999, it is all about the closure of maritime program in a school. Do we have a maritime training program? If the one responsible for editing and making the memos of the rector-president really reviewing the files, this should have been reviewed properly because this is a serious matter for the stakeholders – the students.

About the “consultation board meeting” for the increase of tuition and miscellaneous fees of the next academic year, why is it that not all academic sectors are represented? Why is the student publications of the different departments not allowed in the said consultation meeting? If the administration quotes and “uses” the mandates of the CHED, they must be reminded of the role played by the student publications BECAUSE THE STUDENTS HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW. Since it’s a consultation meeting, financial reports must be presented properly and no personal matters/issues of administrator/s should be discussed.

Teachers, professors, and non-teaching personnel will be given an increase in their salary (so as they say and reason for the increase of the tuition and miscellaneous fees). Up to how much is it then? Are we that sure that when their salaries will be increased, the quality of education will prosper? Why is the SBC Union so quiet on these things? Are you afraid of the “great power” being shown “forcibly” by the Human Resource Department (just like what some administrators did with the student council presidents)? It is true (in a way) that you’ll be benefiting from the increase but stand for the TRUTH! You know how you are by-passed and not taken care by the administration. You are not given importance; you are mere employees for them. Aren’t you wondering why the HR department is getting new employees from agencies and why only a selected teachers/professors/employees receive special benefits and/or higher salaries aside from what a regular teachers/professors/employees should be receiving?

If the current administration of San Beda is for the academic and spiritual development of its students (as what was promised during the solemn (and extravagant) investiture of the rector-president, why is it that there was no development in the academic and spiritual sphere? To answer this, let us point to the athletic domain of San Beda. Why is it that athletes, particularly the basketball players, are given special treatments? These athletes (nothing against their athletic prowess of making San Beda known) are abusing their popularity to pass academic subjects? Special treatments are always given them because they know they are rubbing elbows with Benedictine monks/priests as well as with the administrators. Taking for example (a current one) some Red Lions, they are not coming to class in their subject “BENE”, which, as we all know is on Benedictine Spirituality, Leadership, and Community Building. Since some lax teachers are given “orders” not to fail them, they are given the chance to spend an “immersion” inside the monastery. After that, they pass the subject! Last question on this, how about the other students who exerted much effort on this subject but still failed?

In connection with athletes, why are they receiving not only special favors from alumni? Such as rubber shoes, new branded polos and shirts, cellphones, and even cars! Hmm… According to some athletes, they are receiving some indecent proposals from these alumni. If these alumni are giving these things unconditionally, there must be no strings attached. They are corrupting the minds of young students.

Have you seen the new monastic cloister? It is situated in a place beside the college quadrangle known as the Roman Garden. What is their plan of putting up another cloister wherein there is a minimal influx of vocations in the Benedictine Abbey here in Manila? And why would a monastic cloister have a jacuzzi (a bath with jets of warm water that massage the body), and a sauna room (a small room designed to be heated to very high temperatures, with well-controlled humidity. Saunas are used both for recreational and therapeutic purposes, with most people utilizing them as a relaxation tool that provides additional health benefits) (are these for the athletes or for therapeutic reasons of the monks?)? Benedictines are known and applauded for their simplicity and vows on poverty. But with all these, do you think St. Benedict will be happy with the religious order he founded?

Aren’t you wondering where the other Benedictine monks are? Are they on-leave or are they gone for good? Why are some of them seen gimmicking (using the new cars of the monastery) with exclusive students in bars, coffee shops, well-known malls, and outings of athletes? And sometimes, why would you hear negative comments/ remarks/ gossips about some Benedictine monks/priests made by some Benedictine monks/priests themselves? They call one another as their “brother”, but why do they do these? Is it about the “money’ involved? Is it about envy on the positions? Or is it about the factions inside the monastery? These are reflected in the current situations in our school. Bottom-line question: WHAT IS THE ABBOT (superior of a monastery to whom the souls of the monks are entrusted upon) DOING ABOUT THESE?

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Before we go to our national level of consciousness calling for truth, justice, equality, and peace, let us first be conscious in our community level. We, the Bedan Watcher, aim to deliberately expose the negatives in our Bedan/ Benedictine Community which we call “family” because we are called from within our hearts and minds not to be at a standstill and see and hear the woes of the students, teachers, employees, administrators, and monks without doing our unwritten obligation to uphold truth, justice, equality, and peace with the help of our holy father, St. Benedict. We are not intending to destroy anyone but we want (personal, inner) change of every individual FOR SAN BEDA, OUR COUNTRY, AND GOD

This entry was posted on Friday, April 4th, 2008 at 1:00 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.