POLITICS

There should be a dedication to the exercise of healthy discourse and deliberation in every discussion
circle, otherwise known as politics. These discussion circles should not be limited to a few individuals, but
also extend to a larger audience – most importantly the beneficiaries or constituents of the object of
discussion. The involvement of representative bodies is necessary if we want to commit to more effective
implementations and deliverances of projects, studies, or any planning of the kind. This kind of discourse
was most recently evident in the subject matter of the Rizal Library Road Extension Project – a project
that plans to build a road from the New Rizal Library to the JSEC/More Lorenzo Football Field area. We
find in the President’s Council’s stoppage of the project, to address the concerns of various members of
the community, the commitment to free political discourse and involvement.

 Importance of discourse
o Increases awareness and induces involvement within the community
o Gets the perspectives of all the sides
 Lessens the bias in any field of study
 REMEMBER TO TALK ABOUT OPEN SPACE  ATENEO COMMUNTY ARE ESSENTIALLY
STAKEHOLDERS IN THIS SHIZNET
 According to Arendt, it is important to protect every individual’s private life and to do this we
must invite members of society to participate
 According to zialcita, the efforts of all constituents are need in discourse
 Ateneo is an open space, and the community imagined from the same ideals and principles is
formed only through this discourse
o The individuals end up forming this identity
 In the creation of the road as something that not only affects the SOM forest, an
almost heritage site for Ateneans, but the ateneo community as well (since it
affects the students going to class to CTC or those coming from the gate near
mcdo) there needs to be an open space where the students can discourse
 Maybe this is why ateneo is going to open up a forum on may 4
 Discourse is ultimately the source of all improvements
 For a state to be effective, it needs to attend to the smaller circles that lie beyond the dominant
rationality that the state imposes on its people. (zialcita)
o This can only be done through politics; through the interaction of people in an open space
where they can freely express their own opinions.
 These shared opinions will then form a collective, rationally judged, result which
would work for the sake of everyone

The construction of the road is mainly for economic purposes; it attempts to alleviate the problem
of mobility within the Campus that has long plagued the university. The road was one of the mobility
solutions that the Facilities Management Office (FMO) proposed. They explain that the road is supposedly
part of a long-term Campus Master plan and that the introduction of a road to this forested area is the
price we have to pay for development. We have to note here that development in this sense entails
further productivity due to the increased mobility of vehicles. With the construction of the road, cars
entering gate 3 of the ADMU won’t have to go all the way around the campus anymore just to arrive at
JSEC. This is probably one of the reasons why the roads was proposed: in order to get to the JSEC parking
spots, students and faculty alike had to circle almost the whole of Ateneo. This causes extreme traffic,
most especially in peak traffic times. While a one-way traffic rule was implemented to try and fix this years
past, this still wasn’t enough. There needed to be better accessibility to the JSEC parking spot.
Furthermore, Katipunan traffic – most especially around the area in front of Ateneo – seems to be
contingent to the traffic inside of Ateneo as well. If the campus finds a hard time mobilizing the vehicles
inside, less vehicles outside Ateneo are able to get in and they stockpile outside the campus – causing a
long line of traffic. In fact, as someone who previously brought a car every day to school, the traffic reaches
as far as the bridge in the south near Eastwood – widely caused by the traffic. The road project, then, can
be seen as proposal that could increase not only the productivity of Ateneo, but also the Katipunan.

The project, however as abovementioned, was met with outcry from the Ateneo community as
with the project comes a far too costly consequence – it goes through the SOM Forest – one of the spaces
in the Campus that the community holds huge value to. Amidst public outcry, the office of the Vice
President for Administration called for a stop to the construction of the road after a small group discussion
and agreement with the president’s council and some concerned LS faculty members. There was a
growing concern that the road would affect the environment of the SOM forest, a forest that many
Ateneans would argue has a cultural identity within our social sphere, if the road is built. There were many
people that were concerned for what the implications of the construction of the road would bring. In a
statement of concerned Ateneo de manila faculty members and non-teaching staff, it said that mobility
solutions should not prioritize vehicular traffic at the expense of trees, birds, people,a s well as all the
other plants, animals, and fungi that have made this forest their home. They argue that the construction
of the road will disturb the environmental balance of the forest since the infrastructure will go right
through the forest.

Because of this, Ateneo has scheduled an open forum of sorts on May 4 so that all concerned
parties can listen to the motivations of the FMO in continuing with the project. This would also give all
other concerned parties a chance to display their own opinions on the subject matter; this includes the
concerned faculty and non-staff members of the Ateneo that has started an online signatory-style protest
against the road, whicha s of 3:50 pm has 146 signatories. The beauty of open discourse is that the subject
matter gets to be tackled in many dimensions – in this case, the master plan of the university campus was
to increase the mobilization of vehicular traffic. While they made certain amends to the possible
consequences or the tangents that could result from either the production of the project or the project
itself, it is important to openly discuss this because of the different perspectives different people bring.

For example, while it is easy to understand the motivations of the FMO in building the road in the
case of fostering productivity, the price – cutting through the SOM forest -- is something that largely
affects the Ateneo community. While the project is primarily concerned with productivity and mobility, it
also necessarily affects students. This is why there are many students who took to facebook and twitter
to express, for the most part, dismay over the project. Outcries of insensitivity and narrow perspectivism
emerged. Some even questioned the legitimacy of the objective: will it even actually lessen traffic or
would it case even more? According to Arendt, it is important to protect every individual’s private life and
to do this we must invite members of society to participate. Since the students and the faculty are
ultimately the ones being affected in this construction – not only the sake of production even if it is for
the “bigger” picture in the master plan – they need to be included in the participation of the project.

The essence of politics is to interconnect various modes of thoughts from different communities
in order to arrive at a more inclusive and better discussion of whatever problem is at hand. Zialcita even
points out that the efforts of all the constituents are needed in discourse
POWER
Power exists within the dynamism of the social landscape, not solely as a means of one agent to the other
but in the very relational conditions assumed by these agents, built through currently accepted norms and
values. It is then perpetuated by the propagation of the relationships between the agents and the
institutions. Power, then, lies at the bottom of all our social practices. Universities are typically institutions
that can exert this notion of power over the members of its community: Ateneo de Manila University – as
an institution – is one of them. This can be seen in the current subject matter of the Rizal Library Extension
Project – a project that plans to build a road from the New Rizal Library to the JSEC/More Lorenzo Football
Field area – wherein protests rose from the Ateneo community. The ideas behind this protest can be seen,
for the most part, as an expression of the body of knowledge that the Ateneo institution has instilled over
the community: the values and ideologies laden behind these protests is representative of how power has
an implicit effect on a community’s, and individual’s, thought process.

 Read thesis statement

o Say the april 14 memo
o Say the april 26 memo
o Mention that there has been various outcries against this, especially the online one by
the faculty
 To contrast, the first three faces of power focus merely on the effect of power on humans. The first
face illustrates the capacity to get someone to do something that he or she would not do otherwise.
The second face of power shows how a person could prevent someone from doing something.
Lastly, the third face shows how power can be exerted on someone even though they consciously
want to do what is commanded or desired by another person. In other words, this face of power
shows how the desires of a person can be manipulated.
 The fourth face talks about how power lies beneath all our social practices and cannot be escaped.
With the fourth face of power, Foucault talks about different elements of power
 How is power present in this issue?
o Foucault presents his own analysis on power, introducing the fourth face as that which
becomes internalized by the agents who not only fall subject to power, but justify it through
a process of internalization.
 In some ways, being fostered in the atmosphere n the ateneo community as a students affects
our worldviews and perspective. This is often hidden in thinly veiled concepts such as holistic
formation. However, there is still the underlying power structure evident in the fact that the
Ateneo institution is a community of “shared ideals”. We try and form the community under a
certain ideal, based on certain foundations, in order to foster humans to a certain path. While this
is not to say that we don’t have our own agency, it is certainly important to recognize that our
arguments against this road is already indicative of the power structure
o As Foucault said in the fourth face of power, we became internalized these structures of
power. We are subject to this, and we learn to justify it by a process of internalization
 Power lies at the bottom of our social practices
  We learn certain things such as social sin, social structures that affect our
ability to think but nevertheless the Ateneo is a social structure itself
 We value the SOM forest because we belong in an institution that not only treats
it as some sort of heritage site already, but because we were also taught of the
value of the environment.
 It is evident in the statement of faculty and non-faculty members

 “We believe that our opposition to this road extension project can be an
opportunity for us to reassess our priorities, our values, and our
commitment to them. We say a great deal about protecting the
environment, sustainable development, conserving green spaces; and we
talk a lot about promoting ethical mobility, and creating a walkable campus.
The introduction of a road to this forest cannot be consistent with these
ideals and cannot be justified by equating development with more roads
when the most developed places in the world eschew cars in favor of
pedestrians”

 What then occurs is a coercion to become part of a productive social arrangement out of fear of
unproductivity, a loss of compassion by the presence of an internalized authority (Foucault)
o I propose that the Ateneo is also an institution that makes it difficult for its members go
against the “Status quo” if you call it. For example, it would be difficult to go against the
foundations or the values that are laden in the protest against the road
 To value productivity and the mobility of the vehicular cars, and to surmount the
sacrifice of a part of the SOM forest for this while also trying to amend for the
consequences, is criminal by Atenean standards
o The power of the ateneo institution holds its members accountable
 Power lies at the bottom of our social practice
 We continue to be subjects of Atenean ideologies by practicing “what it
means to be Atenean”
 Power is everywhere, we contribute it and distribute it across all of our
relationships
 That we hold these values, FOR SOME PART, in high regard because we continue to be in an
institution that values it high. Accountability has such a strong stranglehold on the common Atenean
that not only do we, for the most part once again, fail to recognize it since we already internalized
it and made it ours --- we also become advocates (maybe falsely) of this same ideals. This would
continue the process of idealization and would continue the power of the ateneo institution
INSTITUTIONS AND DEVELOPMENT
The ways in which economic, political, and social institutions interact are crucial in shaping development
outcomes. Likewise, building and strengthening effective social, political, and economic organizations is
the cornerstone of establishing effective institutions. These tools can monitor and negotiate for the
appropriate institutional arrangements regarding development, resulting to a better established and
foundational project. In the recent subject matter of the Rizal Library Extension Project – a project that
plans to build a road from the New Rizal Library to the JSEC/More Lorenzo Football Field area – the
collaboration between the economic, cultural, and even environmental institutions can be seen in the
protests that rose. The very building of a road, even in a private institution such as Ateneo, has to go
through the process of getting approvals from various institutions of the government. These institutions
serve as a guiding principle to development projects to ensure that they ultimately serve the welfare of
the people.

 On april 26, the office of the vice president issued a letter to the ateneo community stating that
the construction of the jsec-lib road has been stopped after a council meeting with several LS
faculty members and other important persons.
o It then said that they were going to host an forum on may 4 so that everyone can be given
light into the situation
o Read letter?
 On the construction of the road
o We have to remember that the road was done udner them otivation of easing mobility of
vehicular traffic
 But it was also done in guiding principles. Such as any project in the Philippines,
developments into land have to be approved by several institutions
 The road had to go through the DENR, QC Parks and Development, and
the University Sustainability guidelines
o It has to adhere to whatever rules or guidelines these institutions
pose (government, municipality, and private institution).
 These guidelines are in place because they have to
ensure that development projects are for the welfare of
the stakeholders, and are generally good
 Leftwhich poses that institutions matter when it comes to development projects, specifically
poverty reduction. The institutions affect certain development projects ultimately have a larger
impact on the community itself.
o Taken into the context of the ateneo, the DENR is there to make sure that project is not
harmful to the environment, nor will it deplete or cause damage to existing
environmental aspects in its process
o The QC Parks is essentially tasked to undertake development and proper maintenance of
parks, playgrounds, historical landmarks and monuments, and other facilities in the city.
 It is basically tasked to identify open space in both government and private
sectors and tasked to monitor improvements on these spaces
  It is in these institutions that will affect developments, so it is important to note that institutions
are not themselves static.
o As leftwhich said, it is therefore the interaction of individuals, organizations and
institutions that is at the heart of the politics and political economy of development,
where organizations are understood to be the formally or informally co-ordinated
vehicles for the promotion or protection of a mix of individual and shared interests and
or ideas
o

According to Leftwich, development is a transformation in society that occurs across all main institutional
spheres. It involves the application of technical and scientific ways of thinking across a number of
institutions in order to enhance human welfare.
Rizal Library Road Extension Project

During the April 23 President’s Council meeting, we were made aware of the concern of some LS faculty
members about the abovementioned project.

In response, I called a meeting the following day, April 24. Present during th meeting were LS faculty
members, Dr. Remmon Barbaza (Philosophy), Dr. Hidde van der Wall (Fine Arts) and Mr. Brian Giron
(History). We were also joined by Architect Michael Canlas (CFMO), Ms. Abigail Favis (AIS), Ms. Rica Santos
(UCPRO) and Mr. Glenn de Leon (OP). Everyone was given the opportunity to voice their positions and it
was an exercise of healthy discourse. At the end of the meeting, we agreed that it would be best to bring
the discussion to a bigger audience where other LS groups will also be represented – faculty and
adminstrators, staff, and students. We also agreed that it would be best to have more of this type of
discussion to increase awarenesss and involvement within the community.

With due respect to our small group discussion and agreement, all construction activities relating to the
project were immediately stopped. We also updated the donor about this recent development who in
turn graciously acceded to our request to put the project on hold. W have arranged with th Office of the
VPLS to include the presentation/discussion of this project in the upcoming LS (Adminstrator’s) Council
meeting on May 4, Friday, 5 pm, at Faber Hall Multi-purpose Hall and to invite faculty and adminstrators,
students, and parents.

Trust that the Unviersity is dedicated to balance its built environment with a high degree of greenery and
appropriate land use and recognizes the need to balance the demands of pedestrians, cyclists, and
motorists.

I hope you can share a little moment of your day and join the May 4 presentation.

Sincerely,

Fr. Nemesio S. Que

Vice President
On 14 April 2018, the Facilities Management Office (FMO) communicated to the University
community the details of the New Rizal Library Road Extension project which would link the New
Rizal Library parking area to the John Gokongwei Student Enterprise Center (JSEC) area by
cutting through the wooded area known as SOM Forest.

The FMO explains that the road extension is part of a long-term Campus Master Plan and that
the introduction of a road to this forested area is the price we have to pay for development. The
FMO further explains that some of the trees in the affected area will be relocated, while others
will be properly harvested and used for other projects on campus.

While we acknowledge that the University faces mobility challenges as it grows, we do not believe
that this road extension project represents the development ideals that we espouse as a
university. We express grave concern at the adverse consequences that this project will bring to
our community and question the implications of building more roads.

The SOM Forest is the most accessible green area on campus and the only walkway left for
pedestrians that is insulated from vehicular traffic. It is home to plants, animals, and fungi that
have served us well in offering a unique space for tranquility and quiet in an otherwise noisy
environment. We assert that this forest has become an integral part of the Ateneo community’s
environmental heritage and that it must be protected from the encroachment of vehicular traffic
and its ruinous effects.

We do not agree that the way forward is the construction of another road at the cost of the most
actively used green area on campus. We object to the idea that a forest and the people who enjoy
its quiet space should bear the cost of our indulgence of motorized vehicles.

We believe that our opposition to this road extension project can be an opportunity for us to
reassess our priorities, our values, and our commitment to them. We say a great deal about
protecting the environment, sustainable development, conserving green spaces; and we talk a lot
about promoting ethical mobility, and creating a walkable campus. The introduction of a road to
this forest cannot be consistent with these ideals and cannot be justified by equating development
with more roads when the most developed places in the world eschew cars in favor of pedestrians.

We call for mobility solutions that do not prioritize vehicular traffic at the expense of trees, birds,
people, as well as all the other plants, animals, and fungi that have made this forest their home.

We, the undersigned faculty members and non-teaching staff of the Ateneo de Manila University,
firmly oppose the New Library Road Extension project and we urge the FMO to cease the
construction of any road through the SOM Forest.