Point Blank
The “rally for good governance” held outside the Ateneo last August 12 was an unusual point of conversation in the community for a short while. It was a rare spectacle, after all. When was the last time the Ateneo stood up as a community against a corporate firm? Had fists been clenched just a little more tightly, and had chants been uttered with just a little more resolve, the scene would look completely anachronistic.
However, there were still enough signs to remind us that we were not, in fact, in the ‘70s, just being true to the militant spirit of the times. We hesitated with our chanting, and the organizers’ attempts to come up with a witty mantra ended as soon as everybody realized it’s much easier to resort to a UAAP cheer.
Going into the rally, though, I couldn’t help but feel a little uncomfortable—ashamed, even. The feeling stemmed from the fact that it seems like the only way to get Ateneans to mobilize for anything at all is through drumming up an issue that has immediate repercussions on our comfortable lives. Just look at how much attention we’ve directed to the issue of traffic in the whole SM Blue Residences controversy, compared to the attention we’ve given to other social issues, such as contractualization and agrarian reform.
These were some of the thoughts I battled with long after that noisy show of force, and I eventually found myself dealing with the issue through humor.
“How was the rally?” a friend asked me that night. She also harbored doubts about the mobilization. “Rally ba talaga siya?”
“Ang burgis nga eh,” I answered with a chuckle.
And in her best approximation of the conyo kolehiyala stereotype, she replied, “Well, you know, Katipunan’s gonna be, like, so traffic na kasi eh!”
The shared joke betrayed one of my personal frustrations about our university. How can we have come this far back up the hill when we have gone so far down already in the past? Something went wrong between the time Ateneans would take up the cudgels for the poor, and today, when SM Blue Residences angers us more than Noynoy Aquino’s refusal to distribute Hacienda Luisita.
I guess I shouldn’t have been too surprised, given the disclaimer repeatedly announced throughout the entire rally: “We are not against development or SMDC.” Right. Because we’re really just concerned about SMDC not following the zoning standards as a result of poor governance. There’s no need for us to lift a finger to question SMDC’s business practices, or to raise the issue of unbridled real estate development represented by the whole mess. Because after all, our beef’s only with the condo, right? Not some greater issue underlying the controversy.
But don’t get me wrong—I can only agree with the community’s opposition to SM Blue Residences. I also don’t want the traffic situation in Katipunan to get any more ridiculous.
However, we don’t seem to realize that there are a lot of issues far more deserving of our attention than this. We’ve become so used to the comfort of Loyola Heights that many of us have lost touch with reality. You think 42 stories is high? Try this Ivory Tower called Ateneo.
