KEEPING VIGIL OVER OUR NATION’S FUTURE: A Call to Radical Mourning For the Loss of Our Vision

KEEPING VIGIL OVER OUR NATION’S FUTURE: A Call to Radical Mourning For the Loss of Our Vision

Dear Lasallians,

I am inviting you to raise our voices in silent protest over the deaths that have gone unmourned since our government undertook its efforts to eradicate the menace of illegal drugs from our communities.

We mourn for those who have lost their lives on mere suspicion of being drug addicts and drug pushers. We mourn for those who, because they are too poor and too afraid, cannot fight for their right to life and due process. We mourn for those whose lives have been reduced to statistics and who are now mere proofs to demonstrate the power of those in authority to procure for us, through whatever means, their twisted vision of an orderly society.

We mourn for the loss of our rights when we allow the police to enter our homes without warrants of arrest. We are slowly witnessing an order where we are being seduced to secede to those in authority our basic rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution. The promise of peace and order and well-being is a sham for what this usurpation of our rights has obtained for us is nothing but fear.

We mourn for ourselves, when we allow our vision for our nation to grow dim. When, because of our exasperation with the long march to authentic freedom, have allowed ourselves to be seduced by quick results. Authentic transformation cannot be the result of handing over to one entity, our responsibility to create the kinds of communities we long to see. If we truly desire peace and well-being in our communities, we must see ourselves as its principal authors. Let us, in our mourning, re-affirm our right and our responsibility to be the agents of the change we want to see.

I enjoin you all to keep vigil then over our nation’s future. Let us offer a minute of silence every 8:24 pm (or 8:24 am during school days) in our communities as we mourn the many deaths that have befallen our nation. In our communities, let us create a wave of awareness over the need to guard our basic rights and freedoms.

Let us courageously re-affirm our conviction in our identity as a people of power – as a people who can create and will what is good for our country. Let us stand side-by-side again so that we will not have to live in fear. Let us refuse to bequeath to our children a nation deprived of a vision of its better self.

(sgd.)
Br. Jose Mari Jimenez FSC
Auxiliary Visitor, Lasallian East Asia District

Appointment of Br. Armin Luistro FSC as De La Salle Philippines President

03 July 2017

Dear Fellow Lasallians,

Greetings!

It is with great pleasure that we, the members of the National Mission Council of De La Salle Philippines (DLSP) welcome back Br. Armin Luistro FSC to DLSP with his appointment as President effective 01 July 2017. Br. Armin will be completing Br. Jose Mari Jimenez FSC’s (Br. JJ) unexpired term as DLSP President until March 2020.

Br. Armin brings with him a wealth of experience as a leader: from 1997 to 2004, he served as the Visitor of the De La Salle Brothers Philippine District; in 2005 he was our first DLSP Network President, when DLSP was still in its incipient phase; and more recently, he ended his appointment as Education Secretary under the administration of President Benigno Aquino III being one of the proponents of the administration’s major education program, the K to 12 Basic Education Program. 

We also would like to take this opportunity to thank Br. JJ for his service as our DLSP Network President for the last five years, from 2012 to 2017.  He will remain a member of the National Mission Council, and will focus on his work as the Auxiliary Visitor for Strategic Planning and District Development of the Lasallian East Asia District (LEAD).

Let us give our unwavering support to both Brs. Armin and JJ in their respective tasks for the Lasallian Mission in the Philippines and in LEAD.

Thank you.

In St. La Salle,

(sgd.)
Br. Jose Pardo, AFSC
Co-chair, National Mission Council

(sgd.)
Br. Paul Kok Chee Ho FSC
Co-chair, National Mission Council

World Wildlife Day

The Philippines is one of the 17 megadiverse countries of the world.  It houses two-thirds of the earth’s biodiversity of the world’s plant and animal species. According to Convention on Biological diversity, the Philippines has “49% of terrestrial wildlife…ranks fourth in bird endemism. The Philippines is also one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots, thus making it one of the top global conservation areas (https://www.cbd.int/countries/profile/)."

Dr. Bjorn S. Santos welcomed as 7th De La Salle Araneta University President

The university welcomed Dr. Bjorn S. Santos as its seventh De La Salle Araneta University President last October 4. Dr. Santos concurrently serves as the university’s Vice Chancellor for Academics and Research (VCAR), and Dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine and Agricultural Sciences, among others. 

Dr. Bjorn finished his bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Engineering from the University of the Philippines – Los Baños (UPLB) in Laguna. He went on to take both his master’s and doctorate degrees in Biological and Agricultural Engineering at the Texas A&M University – College Station in Texas, USA, with a specialization in power and machinery, and renewable energy.

Dr. Santos started his career in the academe as a full-time instructor at De La Salle University – Canlubang in Laguna, where he handled courses in Trigonometry, Engineering Graphics, Strength of Materials, Materials of Engineering, and Introduction to Environmental Engineering. From 2008 - 2013, he was a graduate research/teaching assistant at the Texas A&M University – College Station’s Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering. In 2014, he also had a brief teaching stint at the Department of Biology in De La Salle University before he went to the university to assume the VCAR post.

With his educational background and extensive experience as an administrator, Dr. Santos was elected by the Board of Trustees as University President after a candidate search which started as early as December 2015.

Dr. Santos is a member of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, and one of the founding officers of the UPLB Alumni Association Texas Chapter. He successfully passed the 2004 Professional Agricultural Engineering Licensure Examination, placing second.

DLSP Statement on the Supreme Court Decision on the Marcos' Burial

Never Forget!

There can be no moving on without an accounting of the past, no forgiveness without remorse and apology. There can be no justice without accountability. There can be no justice with impunity.

We are thus deeply despondent over the Supreme Court’s (SC) failure to stand on what is just by affirming Ferdinand Marcos’ planned burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani (LNMB). The Court, on the petition against the President's order for the burial of Marcos' remains in the LNMB, has sadly chosen to err on the side of technicality rather than that of history.

Marcos is not a hero. He was an oppressive ruler and a dictator. The empowering experience and triumph of all freedom-loving Filipinos over authoritarianism through People Power 1 in February 1986 is a clear rejection of the Marcos regime.  He remains answerable for many counts of atrocities and human rights violations as well as ill-gotten wealth. 

The SC decision, an ominous development, reflects the weakness of our democracy to exact accountability from leaders who abused and are abusing their power. Unfortunately, after EDSA People Power 1, the task of deepening and consolidating our democracy by strengthening our institutions, including the courts, has not been assiduously pursued. The same weakness has now been taken advantage of by the Marcos family.

This challenges our schools all the more, to help clarify for and with younger generations and those who engage us, the lessons borne out of a scrupulous study of history, citizenship, accountability, and good governance. 

We therefore call on all our Lasallian teachers and partners to strengthen all their educational and community engagement efforts and programs towards a deepening of our people's appreciation for democracy and human rights.  Let us join with like-minded groups to create more robust advocacy on these issues.

Let us oppose every effort to distort our nation’s story.  We shall endeavor to re-tell our story so that we remain true to the values we have fought for and for which many have given up their lives.  The oppressiveness of Marcos’ Martial Law must not be forgotten.  

NEVER AGAIN!

Br. Jose Mari L. Jimenez FSC

President, De La Salle Philippines (DLSP)

10 November 2016