ako aktibista, ikaw?
o, aktibista ko. ngano man? do i have something on my face? nganong sige man ka ug tutok sa ako? ibog ka nako no? binuang ra bai! hehe. kibaw man ko ba kung unsa ang imong huna-huna nako... you must think na my life revolves around two things; first, rallies; and second, more rallies. well, sorry to burst your bubble sonny, pero i think you are talking about the life of a placard. usa ra na ka parte sa akong kinabuhi. kung sa inglis pa, mao ra nay... tip of the ice berg. tuo man ko ba nga nobody knows himself better than himself, maong di angay nga husgahon dayon nato ang usa ka tawo.
aron walay gubot, istoryahan tika sa akong pagka-aktibista.
sugod ko niadtong tres anyos pa ko. joke lang!!! hehe. wa pa koy buot ato.
how did i become an activist? well, ako na lang i-qoute ang akong mama, "we are all activist." she was right. wa gyud ko nasayod sa eksaktong petsa, adlaw o oras kung kinus-a gyud ko nahimong tibak. pero kahibalo ko nga usa to ka taas nga proseso ug daghan ang nag-inpluwensya kanuko and i am not talking about people alone. in a way, the society molded me into one.
if by YOur definition, ang tibak, kay usa nga hilig ug rally? then by your definition, dili ko tibak.
ever since i was small, i never wanted to join rallies kay i was a very shy person. i think pyschiatrists would call me an introvert. ako ang type nga dili makighalubilo sa uban kay ambot lang. hehe.
i was never "hilig" ug rallies, but it was a "must". in high school, i joined rallies kay it was compulsory like rallies against charter change, or the legalization of gambling and trying to be an A-student in a catholic school, which was an institution best in saying something and doing another, i didnt want to accumulate a lot of absences.
then as i grew up, and stepped on the sacred ground of tertiary education, i was relieved to know nga di na mamugos ang administration ug pa-apil ug rally. pero pipila pa lang kabuwan ang nilabay, nahala, naa na pud ko kilid sa dalan, nagtagbaw ug shagit. only this time, i was wearing the rotc goa uniform and i was chanting for the abolishment of rotc. niapil ko adto kay i couldnt see the point of paying a substantial amount of money and sacrificing a perfectly good rest day preparing for an armed conflict through running around with toy guns, marching around the field like rusting robots and standing still for hours under the sun consoling oneself with thoughts that if one stand still long enough, he might end world hunger.
i was one of the thousands of people who believed that marching through the streets wont accomplish anything... then the rotc became optional... it was not abolished, but it was a good start. nakahuna-huna ko nga indeed, some things can happen if people unite and fight for the them. so i started to join more rallies... pero di gihapon siya matawag ug hilig. as corny as it may sound, i really wanted to change the world. but wa nako gi-limit ang akong kaugalingon sa mga rallies, i joined signature campaigns, pickets. noise barrage, cultural shows basta anything that shows people uniting for a cause, uniting against anti-people policies. wa ko kahibalo nga in one of those activities, napiktyuran ko ug naplastar ang akong nawong unfortunately not in the entertainment section but on the frontpage. pag-uli nako sa balay, buto ang armalite nga baba sa akong pamilya. di nila gusto nga moapil ko ug mga rallies kay wa daw nay mabuhat kundi magtawag ug gubot. sa sige nilang ug yawyaw, i realized nga maayo na lang ang rally kay at least naa kay gibuhat kaysa wala. if marching on the streets wont accomplish anything. then think about doing nothing and ask yourselves what could that possibly accomplish.
i am a student too. like most normal tin-edyer who can afford to pay for quality education, i went to study in one of the top university in the country ,which boasts of liberal education. o, top sa pang-repress sa mga katungod sa estudyante and kwestyonable sa iyang pagka-liberal. liberal ba nang pa-unipormon ug mahal nga uniporm, pag-illegalize sa poetry reading inside the campus, pagbayad ug fees for the usage of school facility when students pay an exorbitant tuition fee every semester? liberal ba pud diay nang pag-increase sa tuition fees every year pero and itsura sa library wa gihapon nausab? liberal ba nang manindot lang ang campus ug manggawas ang mga bag-ong equipments inig paascu visit? liberal ba nang naglisod na ug sabot ang mga estudyante sa mga titser nga wa bayari ug sakto? if you call that liberal then you can call me jose rizal! i could safely say that i learn more from my life outside school than my life confined in its four walls.
i am a man who wants to get the best of everything... kung hisgutanan sa edukasyon, i want the best, maong i am fighting for a mass oriented, scientific and nationalist form of education. gusto ko nga dili lang ako ang makatungtong sa kolehiyo kundi tanang kabatan-unan, ug bisan mga tigawang nga gusto gihapon makat-on apan you never stop learning from life. gusto pud ko nga dekalidad ang edukasyon nga ihatag sa gobyerno. maong hangtud di na matinuod, di pud ko muhunong sa akong pagka-aktibista, sa akong pagpangandoy ug dekalidad nga edukasyon para sa tanan. contrary to what a ched director said, i firmly believe, that education should be a right not a previlege.
ngano pud kahang i choose to get involved with people i dont know? nganong i'd fight for other people's battle by joining workers' or peasants' rallies? ngano kaha no? hehe.
the answer is very simple. i am a human being capable of empathy. i may be a student pero i know their very essential role in my life. our lives are intertwined in this society. what happens to one affects all. imagina nga wala nay mag-uumang magtikad sa iyang yuta o muhonong na ug trabaho ang mga factory workers... mag-unsa na lang kaha ang atong nasod? magtanga!
you see, peasants and workers make up most of the country population. they do most of the hard labour in the country. pero sila ang pinakapobre ug pinakapinasagdan sa katilingban. liman ka, mga mag-uuma walay yuta. mga farmers nga walay farm and workers, have no stable jobs thanks to contractualization, have no benefits whatsoever and paid the lowest wage imaginable. as a person with common sense and humanity, do you think that is right? basta ako, i could not sleep at night knowing that i didnt do anything to alleviate the least bit of their sufferings? i could not bear to enjoy eating rice while knowing that the person who watered the rice fields with his own sweat doesnt have anything on his table or using a camera knowing that the person who made it doesnt have enough money to pay for hismedical bills.
i could go on and on about how i became an aktibista pero i think sa akong mga gipang-istorya sa imo, you get the picture. activists you see are not hypnotized or brainwashed by a group of people but are made out of necessity, made out of poverty, made out of government atrocities, made out of injustice, made out of the society. ako nahimo ko ug aktibista kay i know that i have to act now if i want a better future for our country, a better future perhaps for me. maka-ingon pud diay ka nga selfish ko. hehe. so until that future arrives, i will be waiting, but not waiting doing nothing.
pasensya na sa mga gramatical errors. 
Currently feeling: feeling agit
