Poetry of principled anger

There was anger in my classroom two weeks ago. I allowed my students in the subject “Understanding the Self” to have righteous indignation as we watched the live Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing on the anomalous flood control projects. (We have a huge flat-screen TV in the room, with WiFi, courtesy not of a flood control contractor.)

- BUM D. TENORIO, JR.

They wanted to join the indignation rally last Sunday in Luneta and Edsa except that their resources would not permit them to express their dissent of the corruption in government. They are actually disgusted. Who isn’t?

Most of them do not know where to get the P2,000-fee for their pre-final exam yet they hear of billions of pesos being enjoyed by a few courtesy of the alleged systemic corruption in government. They don’t even know if they have the money for enrolment next semester. Pero lumalaban pa rin sila ng patas.

Most of my freshman college students at St. Vincent College of Cabuyao are hard-up. Many work as part of the crew in fast-food restaurants or convenience stores to afford the P10,000 tuition a sem, the cheapest yet quality matriculation for college in the area. Others have parents who are farmers in the neighboring provinces or jeepney and pedicab drivers. Some fathers of my students are OFWs in Saudi Arabia. Some have mothers who work as cleaners or babysitters in their respective neighborhoods. Four or five of my students are total orphans so they are left to fend off for themselves.

When I see them in my classroom, their eyes are filled with dreams. In their eyes | also see the version of myself when I was their age. Those who attend my early morning class come to school with minds as open as the sky and empty stomachs. That’s their real story. Poor. Persevering. They promise some teachers who treat them to the school canteen for breakfast to finish their education.

When the hearing was over, I asked them to make an intelligent decision for themselves by answering this question: How do you understand yourself in a situation where corruption in government is normalized rather than shun?