Be Sad, Be Angry

“Sa bawat estudyanteng mulat sa mga napapanahong isyu sa lipunan, at sa halip na magreklamo lang sa Facebook ay nagmumungkahi ng solusyon: SONA mo ito.” – President Benigno S. Aquino III, SONA 2013

Be sad to see that a President of a country is so bothered by students that he recited a small paragraph in the 2013 State of the Nation Address just for them.  

Feel pity for yourselves for having a President so bothered by students. A President has all the authority in the country and the students have not. Don’t tell me those students were strong enough to hit a nerve. How many are they that they should occupy President’s mind?

When test season comes majority of those students whining on Facebook who make any kind of sense will be too busy to post.  Whoever is left of lesser quality since they don't study will surely be forgotten by the internet.

By the way where is a student going to go to give a suggestion?  Are we going to recruit undergrads to NEDA now or ask minors new and innovative ways to build a cheaper bridge?

They’re students!  

We don’t want them to go find solutions full time; we want them to study. Besides, if those students are really passionate about the problems they keep pounding over social networking sites at midnight, when they graduate and armed by experience I am sure they will go where they need to be without a President asking.

Be worried especially if you believe in this President and Daang Matuwid. If students are a bother, if the Administration cannot reach out, what does that say about a legacy? 

On September 2012 the President signed into Republic Act No 10175 or more popularly known as the Anti-Cybercrime Law.  Two of the more infamous provisions of this law is a “take down provision” and libel that is “one degree higher” than the Revised Penal Code.  Father Joaquin Bernas, a framer of 1987 Constitution described the law as a throwback to the dark ages.

And who hangs around the internet more than the students?  

Words like constitution, freedom of expression, and libel have been tossed around and interpreted for or against the law.   But the world created by the Administration is that everyone with a computer is a potential criminal; maybe just student criminals?  

Why would the insulted protect a legacy?

Be angry because what the law really says is everyone is a potential criminal. The quoted text above begs a question, did students ever monopolize Facebook? Everyone's on Facebook.

Sure, the President did say suggest solutions, but the first step in everything is always to identify the problem. If a citizen without an authority cannot state a problem then what else is there to do? Will they go on and find the solution as the President has asked, or will they do what the President really intended: that those who dare question his "popular" presidency to shut up.