PRESS RELEASE: 2nd Laguna Blogging Summit Theme: Social Revolutionists

PRESS RELEASE

August 27, 2013

Reference:

Grace Bondad Nicolas

Founder- Laguna Blogging Summit

M: 09213191471

E: gracenicolas@yahoo.com

2^nd Laguna Blogging Summit Theme: Social Revolutionists

The “1^st Laguna Blogging Summit” was held last year September 27 and 28, 2012 at Cultural Center of Laguna and was a complete success, the hashtag #1LaBs trend on Twitter and was the talk of the town. Overall, more than 1500 participants attended the event. The biggest in the history. According to COMELEC Spokesman James Jimenez " A HISTORICAL event."

For this year, The 2^nd and the biggest Social Media gathering at Laguna will be much fiercer with a theme: Social Revolutionists and with the objectives not only to bring the best speakers and famous writers from the blogosphere or Social Media but also to discuss the participation of the Netizens in politics and advocacy.

 The “2nd Laguna Blogging Summit” is an open event for the Pinoy Social Media/Blogging community and will be held on October 15 and 16, 2013 from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at Cultural Center of Laguna. Students can register online for FREE at labsph.com, the official website. For updates, everyone can follow @labsummit on twitter.

 

Why Walking in Flood Water is Easy

First: You can leave your death threats in the comment section. 

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, on with the blogpost.

It has been three days since the Maring and the Habagat joined forces and brought watery hell down our heads. In Paranaque, it was no surprise that there were floods. Water would rise and wane with every burst of rain. People flocked to our sari-sari store because they had no food and they could not cook. The first night of the flood was Sunday. My mother did not sleep, because even though our house was pretty safe, the rising water scared her. 

 

3AM, Monday: The house in front of us has been repeatedly raped by the flood.

3AM, Monday: My mom had not slept. She kept vigil until noon, helping people and keeping watch just in case flood waters enter the house. She's like Wonder Woman that way.

I don't blame her. Years ago, we would have been panicking at the thought of rising water as well. I would have been stuffing clothes and food in plastic bags from Pure Gold and stuffing it in the highest shelves of my closet, along with important documents and my favorite books. I would have proceeded to put most of our possessions on top of each other. Then I would have waited (and hoped fervently)for the rain to stop. 

I grew up walking through flood waters. In fact, having to wade through dirty, muddy, smelly flood water from polluted rivers, drainage, and sewers is part of my high school memories. When I was in college, it was jumping onto a dump truck (you know, where they put trash and shit - literally, to my dismay) in my white nursing uniform so I could get across the flood around SM Sucat and get home. It is still a mystery how my uniform survived, but it did.

Tuesday morning: The water had been rising and waning. Above is a shot of the water entering our gate. Below are photos of how the rest of the neighborhood looked.

Which brings me to my point: walking through flood water is not a noble thing. It is not something to be applauded. And like many other things, it should not be a source of that false manifestation of nationality, "Pinoy Pride". I agree that it is a show of resilience, the "I need to fucking get home" kind or the "I'm going to die if I don't get out of this leptospirosis-infested water" kind.

Think of this, however: If Mother Nature had PMS everyday and decided to unleash its watery fury on us non-water benders, then the Filipino people would be walking in flood water everyday. You know what? Because we would have no choice.

It is easy walk through flood water. All one has to do is put your life, your family and your properties on the line. I promise you, you grit your teeth and take the plunge, shit in dump-truck, swimming rats, and floating cockroaches be damned. Any sane person with a relatively intact moral compass would do the same thing.

Yung totoo, hindi 'eto nakakabilib.

Alam mo kung ano yung nakakabilib? Yung sa susunod na delubyo, wala nang baha.

New Ways of Seeing: Study examines youth views on teenage pregnancy and romantic relationships

What do young Filipinos think about sexual and reproductive health?  How do they look at issues like teenage pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, virginity and sexual relationships? What images do they associate with these concepts? 


In the last two years, Mulat Pinoy conducted two amateur video contests: “We Are Right Here. We Are RH.”, and “Sexual Health: Shout or Shush?” These two competitions encouraged young people to submit videos that expressed their thoughts regarding a controversial topic: sexual and reproductive health and rights. With the debate raging constantly across all levels of discourse, Mulat Pinoy sought to give young people a voice in the discussion, to give them a chance to show what they see and feel. 


Data Tolentino-Canlas, a professor at the College of Mass Communication of the University of the Philippines and a PhD student of Rhetorics, Communication and Information Design in Clemson University, carefully scrutinized the submissions for both contests. Her goal was to analyse a total of 45 videos and discover the prevailing trends among the entries: subject matter, word choice, image choice, and so on.


Her study, titled “New Ways of Seeing,” yielded distinct patterns regarding the notions being held by the young people who submitted. Her abstract covered the broader points:


Findings revealed that portrayals of topics related to sexual and reproductive health rights were still highly influenced by mass media, traditional views on marriage and sex. A gap likewise existed in the understanding of statistical and research information and its representation for a young audience. Creators of the videos focused on romantic heterosexual relationships, and how these usually lead to unwanted pregnancies, with women being on the receiving end of the “punishment” of a life of lost opportunities.  


Representations of reproductive and sexual health rights were extremely low, compared to repeated images of contraceptives per se. However these representations did not discuss nor advocate their use, and instead were presented as controversial artifacts that came in conflict with traditional Roman Catholic beliefs. Likewise, there were very few representations of the LGBTQ communities, which were, ironically, some of the most vocal advocated of sexual health rights and awareness.


Among the patterns that Tolentino-Canlas discovered from testing were these specific qualities:


- Teenage relationships are primarily perceived as not only heterosexual, but with admonishing tones regarding sex between young people and seen as the cause of ‘troublesome’ situations.


- Teen pregnancy is portrayed as a burden left to the mothers, with social stigmas and hardship-related effects as an expected by-product without enough support or care from the father or other possible sources.


- Contraception is almost exclusively identified with condoms, and not any other method such as pills or family planning.


- Homosexuality is occasionally rendered with a degree of irony and derision, and focuses solely on gay men rather than the broader spectrum that includes lesbians and queers.


- Religious discussion is clearly avoided but backgrounds and imagery remain prominent, especially as a balm in troublesome situations. Seeking aid and counsel from friends, family or community is less common than seeking solace in prayer/faith.


Each of these aforementioned items, along with several other points, were drawn from the collated info from the videos, using a specialized coding matrix. After the comprehensive analysis, Tolentino-Canlas also provided suggestions about how young people can best move forward, in terms of broadening their awareness and their expressive intent. She stated:


The study recommended exploring ways of presenting information that would allow creators to critique mass media representations of the issues raised above. The study presented suggestions for alternative stories (i.e., successful single parents vs. the sinful, damned woman), images, and approaches to reveal perspectives and explore topics beyond the boundaries of religion and tradition, under which most of the creators still operated. The study suggested changing, empowering and defying present conceptualizations and images of reproductive and sexual health to allow young people the opportunity to discuss subject matter that really mattered to them, and not just what societal structures think they should concern themselves with.


While the study did not have a wide enough statistical sample to be able to speak conclusively regarding all Filipino youth, it does reflect how powerful the influence of mass media can be, and how young people can definitely use similar platforms to speak out in return.


The major points of the study’s findings can be found here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/142018527/Mulat-Pinoy-Year-3-Video-Contest-Content-Analysis

For more information: Mulatpinoy.ph
Facebook: Mulat Pinoy
Twitter: @mulatpinoy

Contact Person: Regina Layug Rosero, regina@mulatpinoy.ph


*This article is a press release by Mulat Pinoy and is only shared in this blog.