For Kabataan Party-list Rep. Renee Louise Co, there was nothing performative in the halftime gig on Oct. 19 of the University of the Philippines (UP) Varsity Pep Squad and the De La Salle University (DLSU) Animo Squad in which they joined forces in assailing the massive corruption in flood control and other infrastructure projects. Co described...
Tag: University of the Philippines
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Dante C. Simbulan, 1930-2024: From military officer to scholar-activist
Long before Dante C. Simbulan’s path-breaking study on the Philippine elite, “The Modern Principalia: The Historical Evolution of the Philippine Ruling Oligarchy,” was published by the University of the Philippines Press in 2005, it had become “the much-quoted thesis on the socioeconomic elite in the Philippines,” according to Mark Turner, writing on the History of...
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Portraits in Jazz: Color her Skarlet
(Nineteenth of a series) I’ve known Skarlet Brown longer than almost any other jazz artist featured in this section. That’s probably why it took me so long to tell her story: I was too close, knew too much, and wasn’t quite sure how to frame her wild and magnificent mess. In fact, my first piece...
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Storytelling, design, and government initiatives: How are the Korean and Philippine film industries different?
South Korea’s film industry seems to be doing well looking in from the outside. According to data from the Korean Film Council (Kofic) on 2024 local box office hits, “Exhuma” was No. 1 with a total gross of $82,686,501 (11,914,785 tickets sold); “The Round-up: Punishment” was No. 2 with a total gross of $82,674,629 (11,...
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Running in (academic) ovals
In the week after the nth iteration of “The Great UP Run,” I found myself asking: What’s so great about it? Sure, this may be just a matter of branding, and brands don’t always have to make sense. But as any decent adman would know, a brand can only be as good as the service...
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Celebrity-powered show caps LGBTQIA+ community festivities calling for equality
Rainbow flags dominated the festive ground under the murky sky that burst in a downpour on June 28. At that moment at the University of the Philippines Diliman, Lov3Laban 2025 became more than a drenched march on campus: It was both declaration and living proof of Pride. The rain transformed the biggest festival of the...
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South Korean bestselling author and influential monk visits Manila
Haemin Sunim, South Korean author of international bestselling books and regarded as one of the most influential Zen Buddhist monks in the world, visited Manila on a tour to talk about his latest work last Jan. 24 at the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman. The book, “When Things Don’t Go Your Way: Zen Wisdom...
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‘First Day Rage’ stirs UP campuses
Learning comes with militancy at the University of the Philippines (UP) right from the start of academic classes at UP Diliman and other campuses. In what was dubbed “First Day Rage,” students, faculty members, workers, community residents and other sectors assembled on Jan. 21, the first day of classes for the second semester of academic...
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I remember Ka Dodong Nemenzo
I encountered Francisco Nemenzo—Ka Dodong to his colleagues and comrades—well before I met him in person. That is, I read one of his papers—isn’t that how we get to know great scholars and thinkers, through the works they have penned? They may be halfway around the world, or they might have passed away long ago,...
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The uncommon life and struggles of Francisco ‘Dodong’ Nemenzo
Once in an era an uncommon person comes along whose life bears the stamp of profound influence on the actions of others and on society. Such was the life of Francisco “Dodong” Alfafara Nemenzo who passed away at the age of 89 last Dec. 19. An unorthodox Marxist scholar of politics, an inspiring socialist leader-activist of...