ARE THERE SCHOLARS IN TRINITY UNIVERSITY OF ASIA?

Well, the truth is, Trinity University of Asia (TUA) doesn't even have a single refereed scholarly journal recognized by the Philippines Journals OnLine (PhilJOL)--"a service to provide access to Philippine published research, and increase worldwide knowledge of indigenous scholarship." (http://philjol.org/index.php/index/index). How dare a university boasts to be world-class when its supposed scholarly journals are not even among the respected refereed ones in the PhilJOL listing?

Again, its claims are all preposterous and illusory.

LET’S GET SOBER, FACE REALITY AND CAST AWAY THE HUBRIS

“The rituals performed during three rigorous days [of the Hajj season in the Islamic religion] force pilgrims to cast away their hubris and embrace humility before God and recognition of their roles as active members of the human race.”

http://www.worldinanutshell.com/Islam-Hajj.htm

Now, let me review some interesting (and to some degrees, also amusing) matters about Trinity University of Asia (TUA), a Protestant university in the Philippines located at Cathedral Heights, E. Rodriguez Sr. Ave., Quezon City.

The home page of the university’s website (http://www.tua.edu.ph/colleges.php) banners the following line:

“A premier Christian University in Asia and the Pacific transforming a community of learners as leaders towards a humane society.”

Then on Wikipedia we find these introductory remarks:

“Trinity University of Asia is the ONLY college or university in the Philippines which has current institutional accreditation granted by a FAAP (Federation of Accrediting Agencies in the Philippines) certified accrediting agency. The Association of Christian Schools, Colleges and Universities Accrediting Association Inc. (ACSCU), granted Trinity University of Asia institutional accreditation "effective August 2009 up to April 2014".
Trinity University of Asia was granted autonomous status by CHED "from 6 October 2009 to 5 October 2012". This is THE HIGHEST FORM OF CERTIFICATION that can be granted to a Higher Education Institution. As at end of October 2009, only 44 (2.5%) out of 1,726 higher educational institutions in the Philippines has been granted autonomous status by CHED.” (Emphasis in capitalized and bold words is mine.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_University_of_Asia

However, though the university’s name has “of Asia” in it, TUA is nowhere to be found among the top 200 universities in Asia (http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/asian-university-rankings/overall). In the most recent ranking list release (2010) only four (4) Philippines universities are found:
1. Ateneo de Manila University (ranked # 58)
2. University of the Philippines (ranked # 78)
3. University of Sto. Tomas (ranked # 101)
4. De La Salle University (ranked # 106)

Going local, among the listed 192 Philippine universities and colleges based on the 2010 University Web Ranking (http://www.4icu.org/ph/), TUA is ranked # 81 very much lower than private provincial universities like Xavier U in Cagayan de Oro (# 14), St. Louis in Baguio (#15), Silliman in Dumaguete (# 20), Ateneo de Naga (# 26), Adventist International Institute of Advanced Studies (AIIAS) in Silang, Cavite (# 27), Central Philippines University in Iloilo (# 31), University of Baguio (# 34) and 18 more universities in various provinces.

In the same list, Silliman University (ranked #20) is the highest among the Protestant universities. Next in line is the Adventist International Institute of Advanced Studies (AIIAS) which is ranked # 27. The third is Philippine Christian University (PCU) which is # 29. Next is Central Philippines University (CPU) which is # 31. Afterwards, we have the Adventist University of the Philippines (AUP) which is # 74. Then, comes TUA.

Now, look at the more authoritative list of top 20 universities in the Philippines released by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the Professioanl Regulation Commission (PRC). (http://www.prcboardexams.com/2009/08/top-philippine-universities-2009/)

The Top Universities in the Philippines for 2009 ranked according to the study they conducted once every 10 years:

1. University of the Philippines (Diliman Campus / Luzon)
2. University of the Philippines (Los Banos Campus/ Luzon)
3. University of the Philippines (Manila Campus / Luzon)
4. Silliman University (Dumaguete City / Visayas)
5. Ateneo de Davao University (Davao / Mindanao)
6. Ateneo de Manila University (Manila / Luzon)
7. University of Sto. Tomas (Manila /Luzon)
8. Mindanao State University (Iligan Institute of Tech/ Mindanao)
9. Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (Manila/Luzon)
10. Saint Louis University (Baguio City / Luzon)
11. University of San Carlos (Cebu City / Visayas)
12. Xavier University (Cagayan de Oro / Mindanao)
13. Mindanao State University (Main / Mindanao)
14. Urios College (Butuan City / Mindanao)
15. Polytechnic University of the Philippines (Manila / Luzon)
16. De La Salle University (Manila / Luzon)
17. Mapua Institute of Technology (Manila / Luzon)
18. Adamson University (Manila / Luzon)
19. Central Mindanao University (Bukidnon/Mindanao)
20. University of Southern Philippines (Davao /Mindanao)

Obviously, we don’t find Trinity University of Asia in the above list.

But, don’t lose heart friends, because TUA has nevertheless an important place under the sun, so to speak. Look at the following from

http://animotivation.blogspot.com/2010/01/top-20-performing-nursing-schools-and.html


List of Top 20 Nursing schools and Universities:

1. Silliman University 96.57
2. Saint Louis University, 95.42
3. Trinity University of Asia 95.06
4. University of Sto. Tomas 95.06
5. Cebu Doctors’ University 91.89
6. Saint Paul University 89.79
7. Central Philippine University 86.72
8. De La Salle University-Health Sciences campus 85.26
9. Saint Mary’s University 84.10
10. San Pedro College 83. 10
11. Manila Doctors College 82.56
12. Centro Escolar University-Manila 81.50
13. Angeles University Foundation 76.37
14. Mariano Marcos University 75.55
15. University of San Agustin 73.25
16. University of Cebu 70.99
17. Metropolitan Hospital College of Nursing 70.54
18. Ateneo de Davao Universit 70.20
19. San Juan De Dios Education Foundation 69. 91
20. University of St. La Salle 67.55.

The one single intent of this article is to impart an unsolicited advice to Trinity University of Asia to be realistically sober in its assessment of its own strengths and weaknesses. As far as strengths are concerned, one obvious proof is in the area of Nursing education. I think the rest are yet on the side of weaknesses despite all the accreditation assets.

So, Trinity University of Asia, you are not yet prestigious, celebrated, prominent or highly esteemed. Be humble enough to reflect on the Socratice dictum: “I know nothing and I know that I know nothing.” Reflecting on this will lead you to better things and will surely open the gates of greatness. But not yet now. . . .

THREE TUA GRADUATE SCHOOL FACULTY MEMBERS FOUND ON GOOGLE SCHOLAR SEARCH ENGINE

I have here the roster of faculty members of Trinity University of Asia’s Graduate School taken from the university website (http://www.tua.edu.ph/gsstaff.php). I checked the names of these faculty members on the archived list of scholars gathered through the Google Scholar Search Engine http://scholar.google.com.ph. The results are as follows:

(Note: POSITIVE if found; NEGATIVE if not found)

Dr. Aurea V. Badillo NEGATIVE
Dr. Rodelio L. Bathan NEGATIVE
Dr. Annabelle R. Borromeo POSITIVE
Dr. Benjamin C. Dayrit NEGATIVE
Dr. Lydia A. Cabigao POSITIVE
Dr. lIuminada F. Castigador NEGATIVE
Prof. Erlinda E. Domingo NEGATIVE
Dr. Proceso T. Domingo NEGATIVE
Dr. Marlon J. Gomez NEGATIVE
Dr. Guillermo F. Juan, Jr. NEGATIVE
Dr. Epitacio S. Palispis POSITIVE
Dr. Criselda C. Mapa NEGATIVE
Dr. Ramon Benedicto N. Marcelino NEGATIVE
Dr. Norma G. Nunez NEGATIVE
Dr. Eufemia F. Octaviano NEGATIVE
Dr. Eduardo G. Ong NEGATIVE
Dr. Jovita R. Pilar NEGATIVE
Dr. Herculano V. Sabas NEGATIVE
Dr. Pedro A. Ramos NEGATIVE
Prof. Romulo P. Soriao NEGATIVE
Dr. Benjamin R. Yngente NEGATIVE
Prof. Ferdinand M. Lopez NEGATIVE
Dr. Cesar D. Orsal NEGATIVE
Prof. Rosauro E. Manuel NEGATIVE

Of the total of twenty-four (24) TUA Graduate School faculty members, only three (3)—i.e., only 12.5%--are found on Google Scholar Search Engine.

WILL THE TRUE SCHOLARS PLEASE STAND UP

There is one effective--though of course not the only and most effective--way to find out who the real scholars in an academic community are. We are talking here of genuine scholars in contrast with those academics who enjoy immensely the aura of authority attached to the titles they are proud to be addressed with and they brazenly place before their names--Professor and Doctor. This may be done online through Google Scholar http://scholar.google.com.ph/schhp?hl=en&tab=ws. Spell out the name of the academic on the search slot, click "Search" and Voila! the name you are looking for either appears or is not in the directory.

There is however a caveat:

(1) Check thoroughly if the name that appears on the directory is really the one you are looking for; it may be that of a different person.

(2) Make sure the name that appears there is acknowledged for scholarly work(s)

(a) being the author of a scholarly volume(s)and/or paper(s); or

(b)being quoted/cited in a scholarly volume or journal article(s)both of local and/or international importance.

Myself being an academic with Trinity University of Asia (TUA), let me initially pose this challenge to her "Doctors" and "Professors". If TUA is truly a prestigious university, many names of its "distinguished" faculty members would surely appear on Google Scholar.

By the way, don't mind UP, Ateneo, De La Salle, UA&P, UST, or Silliman academics; you'll surely get tired later opening a myriad sites for you'll find so many of them listed on Google Scholar

As of present records, only four names of TUA academics appear on Google Scholar: Epitacio Palispis, Juliet Bucoy, Annabelle R. Borromeo and Lydia A. Cabigao.

To the rest, GOOD LUCK!

I DOFF MY CAP . . . .

Now that Trinity University of Asia, through its Graduate School, is producing doctorate degree holders by the dozen left and right (and all geared up to produce more as it inaugurates another post-grad course called “Doctor in Nursing Management”), I feel it is high time that the real scholars of the university be acknowledged lest they be entombed and forgotten under the rubbles of a “doctored” avalanche. I doff my cap in recognition of the scholarships of the following academics (and when I call them professors, they truly are):

1. Prof. Dennis Paul P. Guevarra of the College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Humanities and Letters
2. Prof. Jose Delgado of the College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Humanities and Letters
3. Prof. Nathan Baoas of the College of Education, Christian Education Department
4. Prof. Elias Sampa of the University Research and Development Center

These guys are not only invited lecturers and paper readers in scholarly circles; they are also authors of well-researched works published in journals of scholarly worth both local and international.

[Note: There are, however, two very potential scholars in the new breed of Trinity’s faculty. They both belong to the College of Arts and Sciences: (1) Mr Joem Co of the Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences and (2) Mr. Caleb Coniate of the Department of Humanities and Letters. But still, they have to face two possibilities: (a) Be further developed by the University (which is very unlikely because it does not recognize intellectuals, much less scholars) or (b) Simply suffer the fate of the four abovementioned scholars who have just sunk in the sea of forgetfulness, at least in the context of Trinity.]

Trinity University of Asia should really wake up if it wants to be true to what it says it is—an institution of academic excellence—for as of the present count, it only has four (4) authentic scholars in its roster of academics.

Sheer hubris doesn’t and can’t make an institution truly great.

FACEBOOK Conversation between Dr. Levi Oracion (Theologian/Philosopher) and Ruel Pepa (A poisonous “weed” on the “well-manicured” lawn of Theology

Ruel F. Pepa (RFP): Hello, Prof.!! How are you doing? It's been quite sometime. My philosopher-colleague/kumpadre/"partner-in-crime" :-)) Dennis Paul Guevarra met you two weeks ago at Silliman. Regards and best wishes. :-)

Levi Vid.Oracion (LVO) : Yes, I think I met someone who teaches philosophy; but there were so many at the General Assembly, and some meetings were in the nature of hello and goodbye, and it is hard to remember everyone. I am doing somewhat OK; I have learned to live with my aches, and as a man of faith, I take everything to the Lord in prayer. In a way, I am compelled to inasmuch as we are not covered by any insurance, and we depend largely upon our children. It would have been better if we had stayed right there in the Philippines. Obama care does not kick in until 2014---and I might not be around anymore. Time comes when death has to be embraced like a friend, then it does not terrify, and makes one more authentic. Ah, that is Heideggerian. Say hello to Dennis!!!

RFP: Ok, I will when I see Dennis next week. Yes, I think there is some real significant sense in rehearsing Heidegger's conception of the Dasein in thematizing Death as "my death" (from my viewpoint) or "your death" (from your viewpoint). But let's not talk of it now coz what you DIALOGICALLY bring out is "the death of the Other" which is haunting and disturbing to me (if its "your death") and equally haunting and disturbing to you (if it is "my death"), if I may appropriate Emmanuel Levinas in his Otherwise than Being or Beyond Essence. Anyway, let's quit talking philosophically at the moment. Let's savor yet the gift of life. " . . . But as soon as we are born we begin the struggle to create, to compose, to turn matter into life. Because of this many have cried out, 'The goal of ephemeral life is immortality!'" (Nikos Kazantzakis, The Saviors of God)

LVO: But I do not see death as haunting; terrifying perhaps as Kierkegaard experienced freedom. But in Heidegger it is more properly authenticizing---or making true because it compels me to focus on realizable possibilities. Being confronted with one's end does not allow to live frivolously, but if we are serious about life, seriously or authentically. In theology, we call it eschatological, or that one stands at the end time. I see the Other as one with whom I can share my humanity, and death as my end but more essentially as self-realization.

RFP: Yes, I agree. Neither do I see "my" death as haunting or disturbing. And I understand that neither do you see "your" death likewise. "My" death is autheticizing to me and "your" death is likewise to you. That's precisely why I can unhesitatingly sacrifice my life for a noble cause. (This, I think, is another instance to "befriend" death in the Heideggerian sense.) But it is the death of the Other that is haunting and disturbing to me--whether real or possible--like in the case of the desaparecidos and the victims of extrajudicial killings within the entirety of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's term as Philippine "president."

LVO: Ah, such death is death in its ordinary sense, particularly if it is tantamount to murder, extra-judicial killings, massacres---for that is a gross violation of life. Although, there may be attenuating circumstances as in the death of a martyr, a hero. In a sense there is an element of ordinariness, but from the perspective of the hero it is the highest form of self-fulfillment, for he has transformed himself into the cause he is fighting for. It is hard to understand Rizal's and Aquino's death if one does not factor in this element. Death is the enemy, and not a friend. In a way, I am thinking of death as my acceptance of the radicalness of my finitude that tells me it is vain and foolish to hang on to life forever.

RFP: It is therefore the THOUGHT of death (mine or yours)--which is "an acceptance of the radicalness of finitude"--that we can talk about as it is presently thematized by us who are still living. In this case, the signification and hence the "authenticization" of death once it is ACTUALIZED is no longer within the purview of our consciousness (for death's actualization deprives us of consciousness) but in the consciousness of those who know us.

LVO: Death in the case of physical death in the usual sense is the termination of one's life, one's extinction where there is no future but nothingness---in the secular sense. But even that can be understood metaphysically, like I said, we can view it as fulfillment, self-realization, or satisfaction. If you are single-mindedly pursuing a goal, your death whether you are able to reach it or not, amounts to self-fulfillment both internally and in the wider scheme of things. This is how it is understood in Whitehead's process philosophy where fulfilled entities do come together to form other entities that project a new vision of things. Of course, in a system that is radically individualized as I seem to perceive your perspective, then what Whitehead says is nonsense; but where the individual's existence is viewed as the polar end whose opposite is community, then it makes a lot of sense. Here the individual's consciousness is but an infinitesimal speck in the community of a thousand and one conscious sentient existences whose oneness and common vision points to the reality of God.

RFP: But we can only really "communitize" the THOUGHT of death in the "oneness and common vision" of "a thousand and one conscious sentient existences" as a matter of superficial imagination. If we pursue the Whiteheadian trajectory, we lose the "authenticizing" signification of the thought of death which is actually radically realized in the context of the individual. From the Whiteheadian perspective, the thought of death simply plunges into the narrative--even the meta-narrative--of a community and therefrom lands in the cold rhetoric of empty romanticism. Besides, I find some difficulties figuring out how the "oneness and common vision" of a "community of a thousand and one conscious sentient existences" "points to the reality of God". In this manner of "thought-weaving" I fail to perceive the "reality of God" which is apparently simply posited out of nowhere.

But please don't get me wrong; I do not wish to question anybody's belief in God's existence, much less her/his faith in the power of that God.

LVO: Your opposition to Whiteheadian metaphysics drags you back into a Cartesian solipsism where the individual is radically confined within his own consciousness with no sense of community or world but the world within. This is the death of human authenticity. You can only have the individual if you posit the community---but you do not have to posit it for it is real. The history of philosophy from Descartes to Hegel is one of overcoming Cartesian solipsism. Kierkegaard fell also in that trap, and another exisentialist, Heidegger tried to get out of it in his concept of Dasein as "being with." I think Whitehead's metaphysics has some affinity with Heidegger's. This is really more of an epistemological problem, than a metaphysical one. I know that metaphysics is a rara avis these days ---but in my musings on truth, justice, freedom, good and evil---I find it necessary to go into it. It is of course non-scientific but it belongs to the logic of being human. And here the divine ghost appears and it is too bad that theologians have clothed it in habiliments that contradict the world as we experience it. No, I am not trying to prove God's existence; I am only trying to make sense of my humanity that responds to love and freedom, justice and goodness which I find inescapable.

RFP: I don't think I have regressed to Cartesian solipsism since I, in the first place, do not deny the dialogical reality achieved in community interaction. Nobody can sensibly refute the facticity of human interface specifically realizable in the context of a community. But human authenticity emanates from the reflective competence of the human being in the individual dimension. It is not therefore a case of naively revisiting the graveyard of Cartesian solipsism but a reflexive affirmation of the fact that the participating agencies in the human community are uniquely differentiated individuals that constitute an inter-subjective reality.

Considering the dynamics of social change, a community could get extremely ascendant (and hence dominant/domineering) to the point of tyrannizing the individual. This is the major problematization in most of Levinas' writings: When the community gets ascendant, the Other is pushed to the margins. In the process, the meaningfulness of the indvidual is imperiled and human authenticity loses its grounding.

LVO: If so, then you cannot and must not deny the plausibility of Whiteheadian metaphysics whose analysis of entities parallels that of Heideggerian ontology---for entities make a seizure of another in realizing themselves. Entities are always in a community, and communities are formed by entities which are highly individualized. At no point in my thinking that do I betray the oppressive and exploitative character of communities for one of the polar elements in my thought is the balance between the individual and the community. To me authenticity arises when the individual actualizes possibilities that essentially belong to it, and one of those is to belong to a community. Whitehead uses a highly difficult language and it does not readily relate to existential language that we now use---but the authenticity of an entity depends on choices it makes among the millions of possible choices offered to it by its larger community. I did say that a common vision may point to God's reality for the simple reason that such a human vision shared by a community must of necessity include justice, freedom, love, equality, sacrifice which to me find their highest realization in something final and ultimate. It is not romanticizing for to get there one must struggle with the harsh realities of life and history. I may be thought weaving but the basic ideas are taken out of the stuff of human life---some end up relativistically, I prefer to end in some form of ultimacy and touch those things unseen in my very finite existence.

RFP: Well said, my dear professor. It's always been like honing my intellectual sword every time I get into a serious philosophical conversation with you--a seasoned theologian and philosopher--spending precious time with a "poisonous weed" on the well-manicured lawn of philosophy and theology. :-) Just kidding, Prof. Levi. We'll keep in touch for another philosophico-theological skirmish. Your body may already be deteriorating but the vigor of your mind is still as fresh as the morning sun. Best wishes.

LVO: Well, thank you Ruel. I must admit you have gone far beyond me in philosophy, and perchance theology too, had you chosen to go there. For me, it is enough that I infect my students with the love of truth, and pursue them wherever it might lead, though I for one am quite content with the faith I have in Christ, and if engage in any sort of intellectual skirmish, my goal is to bring the illumination of the Gospel to the subject at hand in the hope that some poisonous weed might turn his intellectual gifts as tools for liberation, empowerment and for fuller humanity.

RFP: It is I who should be tremendously grateful to have you as a mentor full of patience and understanding: an eminent world-class theologian/philosopher and a spontaneous well-spring of immeasurable wisdom, It is a priceless honor and a lofty privilege on my part to always be your humble student.

LVO: Ah, this is the finest accolade I have ever received and will ever receive, and that it should come from the most brilliant mind I have ever had in my life, makes me truly happy indeed. I wish that it were uttered before a wider audience!!! But, NO, much of what you have heard from me was culled from the mind of the great philosopher-theologians, I am a mere sounding board, and you know it. Perhaps I have uttered them as if they were mine, and that would be my greatest crime. However, I truly believe them, and I am trying to live them out, oftentimes with disastrous consequences, but that is OK. My Lord died on the cross; I only dream to die in bed, but not in a hospital bed.

© Ruel Pepa, June 2010

AIRSOFT, PHILOSOPHY AND THE WARRIOR

The “Philosophical"—Mirrored in the Game of Airsoft

The "philosophical" enhances human meaningfulness in a world where meanings are invented/re-invented, created/re-created, and shaped/re-shaped by the human being himself who doesn't allow the Nothing to end up to nothing but finds in the Nothing an exciting challenge in the manner that a creative artist is challenged by the blank canvas on an easel. In this sense, human meaningfulness is something that authentically depends on human creativity. It shouldn't be misconstrued as something bestowed in a silver platter by a supernatural power. The reality is there is no such power. The power that humanity possesses emanates from her/him alone and this reality makes one's humanity exciting. In this excitement resides one's desire to improve and develop his/her talents and make good use of them to make the world a better place to live in.

This conception of the "philosophical" is reflected in the game of airsoft for the game's excitement is a re-creation of human meaningfulness. The game enhances such meaningfulness to the point of desiring to improve one's skills in playing the game: strategy-planning, tactical maneuvering, terrain-exploration, opportunity-discovery, teamwork-building, trial-and-error experimentation and behavior-observation. So that, in the game of airsoft, nobody relies on suerte. It's all skills through and through.

Yet, though there's a simulation of death in the game by way of being hit, such a situation still spells human meaningfulness even at the point of death for an event like that instantly becomes a lesson for you and for the others in the game. Besides, the event of being hit is also an expression of one's courage to do an honest act: Being able to shout "Hit!" after having been actually hit is a test of one's honesty which is a rare thing nowadays. In other words, since there are very few honest people in the present dispensation when so many call themselves God-believing, born-again Christians, honest people is a rarity. But what is amazing is you find many of them in airsoft games. Though it's not always the case for there are still legions of airsofters who are makukunat na zombies.

What makes the game of airsoft more meaningful and more into the enhancement of human meaningfulness than that which we find and experience in the actual Lebenswelt is, in the former, there is a very serious/sincere effort/endeavor to promote, institutionalize and defend HONESTY while in the latter, dishonesty/ palusot/ panggugulang /pandurugas is standardized. There is therefore an upholding of the "philosophical" mirrored in the game of airsoft; very much diametrically opposed to the actualities we find in this very "unphilosophical" world controlled and run most of the time by agents of irrationality, insanity, stupidity and barbaric inutility.

The Excitement is Humanizing—Not Bestializing: Where Appearance is not Reality

What actually appears in every game of airsoft is the trappings of violence: Guys--even gals--armed to the teeth; "weapons of death and destruction"; fierce eyes of suspicious warriors; silent and fast movements always going for the kill. You find them all in a war as well as in a wargame. The difference is: In a real war, appearance is reality; in a wargame, appearance is NOT reality.

In a wargame--particularly airsoft--the reality is that the protagonists are fun-loving aficionados of the exciting life--which is their definition of the good life--who have been burnt out and bored by the routine of weekday responsibilities in offices, board rooms, clinics, field works, production plants, school rooms, etc. Definitely none are warfreaks--in fact, it's even safe to say that these guys and gals are the most peace-loving denizens of the globe. Many are professionals: medical doctors, lawyers, engineers of all sorts, professors in universities/colleges, accountants, businessmen/women, artists, etc.

Yes, the whole set-up gives us the picture of military life: boots, uniforms, guns (BUG). But there is nothing military in the equality of treatment among airsofters who address each other "Sir"/"Ma'm" regardless of age, gender, race, and status in life and career. There was even a time in the recent past (it was a couple of years ago) when as a lone wolf I joined my eldest son who is a seasoned airsofter and member of the elite Special Warfare Airsoft Group (SWAG) to play in a big game in Naic, Cavite. I was assigned to join a team composed of Philippine Navy and Marine officers and soldiers and the leader of the group was a military doctor carrying the rank of a Rear Admiral (2-star General). I was sort of elated when in the course of a conversation, he addressed me "Sir". The natural but amusing reaction from a greenhorn like me was a feeling of elation with the idea that probably this guy thought I was a Vice-Admiral. Well, of course, I was just kidding. But on the serious side, I was really impressed that a real military officer did not hesitate to level himself with a simple non-military entity in a mil-sim (military simulation) event. (Constitutionally, that was quite accurate because during peace time, the civilian is supreme over the military.)

Well, yes, there are also real warriors who play the game of airsoft. But once in the gamesite, they must shed off their real identities and be gamers.

Airsoft and the Will of a Warrior

In every human being hibernate an artist, a scholar and a warrior. But due to the exigencies of time and locale, in most instances, only one or two of these three aspects are developed to the extreme while the other(s) remain(s) in the sea of forgetfulness. In the context of modern reality dominated by science and technology, we have witnessed the flourishing of the scholar and the artist—to be more specific, the scientist and the technologist. I am talking here of what is tangibly seen on the externals. But in every advancement we experience is the persevering presence of the will that pushes progress onward. The accomplishments of the will may not be as tangible as those of the intellect which sustains the scholar and the feeling which moves the artist, but in all of these undertakings, the will cannot simply be left behind and neglected for it is the source of the artist’s and the scholar’s courage to go on with their dreams, desires and wishes. The will is the warrior in us. There is no point in living without the activation of the will.

When times seem hard and discouraging, it is the warrior in us—the will—that presses us on to continue, to pursue what the intellect has decided to be the best course of action and what our feeling has promised us to be satisfying. There is so much of wasted time and inactivity that lead to loss of precious opportunity and further failure because of the weakness of one’s will. And in the process, so many people suffer because of one’s inability to be decisive. Decisiveness is an act of the will.

In the game of airsoft, it is the will that is at the forefront. Decisiveness and the courage to carry out the decision made count the most. In the game of airsoft, the warrior in the airsofter is led out of the shell. As a microcosm of humanity, the airsofter as a strategist is a scholar and as a tactician is an artist. But to carry out a decision and deliver the kill in swift and calculated motion makes the airsofter a warrior. It is the will of the warrior that pushes the strategist and the tactician in the airsofter to achieve his/her goal, to reach his/her aim, to accomplish his/her objective as a team player in a particular game.

The game of airsoft is one most fitting training ground to enhance the will and hence the warrior in each of us. It also makes us realize the fact that we should acknowledge the importance not only of intellect and feeling but more than anything else of the human will.

It is the will of the warrior in us that grants us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change and bestows us the courage to change the things we can after the intellect and the feeling have given us the wisdom to know the difference. In the language of the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, these are “the Apollonian and the Dionysian spirits” that interplay and interact for humanity to give way to the emergence of “the Ubermensch” and let the “Will to Power” take its course as we “Say yes to life” on a moment-by-moment basis within the limits of a reality that is in a state of “Eternal Recurrence.”

Let the game of airsoft be a most significant field to edify the will and hence honor the warrior in everyone of us.

* The author is an airsofter whose nom-de-guerre is Warlock.

© Ruel F. Pepa, 2010

PHILIPPINE HIGHER EDUCATION, QUO VADIS?

I. Intensity in Education: A Dialectical Consideration

Education nowadays as well as the process within it is measured more in terms of extensity than of intensity. Hence, the more relevant burden of academic scholarship in the present era is to locate the concrete vantage point where extensity and intensity may fully be coordinated to effect the realization of the truly educated individual. The lopsided thrust of education and its required features focuses more on the superficial in the matter, manner and method that it possesses. This is in the area of extensity and the problem with the unilateral emphasis on it is the inadvertent isolation of intensity which capitalizes on depth and quality. At the end of the road, we find extensively "educated" individuals who are more particularly interested in the degrees attached to their names than in the essential depth of what they possess in the intellect.

Thinking aloud, it could be surmised reasonably that despite the presence of an array of multi-degreed academics, the general landscape of national life is still seen to be retrogressive and less promising. More realistically, the academe and real life do not match up and fit well together for what is taught in the academe are matters so artificial, real life does not need them and real life is so concrete the academe, replete with abstract notions peddled by "schizophrenic" professors, is just a superfluous nuisance.

The intensity of education lies in the fact that it should be a realistic reflection—a committed theorizing—on what is actually experienced in life. It should be a deeper exploration into the dynamics and mechanics of actual life-events interconnected among themselves and constitutive of a system that prevails at a certain moment of ongoing history. Such education can only lead to a better understanding not of the theory that expresses the understanding but of the practical life given interpretation by the theory. In this condition and situation, real authorities are a common sight and their contribution is not to the growing statistics of half-cooked doctoral degree holders but to the economic vibrancy, political stability, social empowerment and cultural intensification.

To be more specific at this point of the discussion, the dialectical notion of progress that characterizes authentic education as an intense reflection of actual practices in social life should permeate every process operationalized in it in the forms or instruction, reseach, and extension. In other words, dialectics operates not only in terms of extensity but in terms of intensity as components of the entire system complement each other to achieve a higher level of development.


II. Academic Credibility Getting Lost in the Jungle of Absurdity

This is the most infamous idiocy we now encounter in less-credible Philippine universities and colleges: academics possessed with the guts to brag their graduate and/or post-graduate degrees as if these are the end-all of their existence—unmindful of THE WEIGHTIER SUBSTANCE OF SCHOLARSHIP expected of the schooling that they spent to get their degrees. This circumstance is further complicated by bestowing these people with the title “Professor.” On a closer look, the worst is, almost none of them have actually produced serious writings and research studies of scholarly worth much less, being quoted and/or cited in prestigious refereed journals and volumes of deep sophistication.

The eyes of pride and arrogance light up as these pretenders are addressed “Doctor” or “Professor.” But in reality, their conceit and haughtiness emanate from the higher salaries they get by virtue of the academic degrees they boast. They are the paper tigers of the academe. The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) is the only institution that recognizes their importance (if they are truly important); not the more trustworthy scholars and scholarly societies based in more credible academic locales. No reason is therefore engendered to persuade “the authentics” to offer lectureship stint to “the pseudos.” The real won’t dare.

This condition in the Philippines has been so rampant and hence alarming. In the face of this reality, “academic excellence” claimed by most universities and colleges has gone equivocal and hence meaningless.


III. Basking Under the High-Noon Sun of Hardcore Delusion

Some second-rate private universities and colleges in the Philippines are now levitating under the magical spell of the Commission on Higher Education’s make-believe power after these institutions have been granted an autonomous status by the latter. Hubris is the most appropriate term for the spirit that has possessed them. A certain type of delusion has overpowered their leaderships in the belief that they are now in league with the illustrious Ateneo and De La Salle. What a horrendous hallucination!

The irony of the present circumstances is they are in a state of unequalled “high” despite the hard reality that they cannot actually lay a solid claim to an array of distinguished honest-to-goodness scholars from among their stockpiles of “doctored” degree holders. Ateneo’s and De La Salle’s doctorate degree holders are authentic scholars who have produced academic outputs of high scholarly worth published in notable scholarly journals, local and international. Ateneo’s and De La Salle’s academic scholars have read papers and lectured in prominent conferences and forums, local and international.

But the present situation of these mediocre institutions is still salvageable given the condition that they will soon wake up to reality. Face-to-face with reality, they can soberly locate themselves right at the place where they can start off: the call to challenge genuine scholars and the guts to weed out incompetence in their faculty ranks.


IV. A Postscript for Serious Rumination

The following quote from a letter by a certain Michael Riggs (http://freeenergynews.com/Directory/Beware/Bearden_Bogus_PhD/#Comment_mcriggs) is worth reflecting as it challenges us to reconsider a lot of misguided thoughts on higher education:


“While one may not agree with me, the definition of a diploma mill is an educational facility where one meets minimal, structured, educational requirements in order to acquire a degree. While I do not wish to belittle the efforts of those who have gone through the prescribed educational processes required, by say, the top 100 universities, I would say that based on the end result, our top-rated universities definitely meet the definition of diploma mills, including any "top" university you wish to select. Let me explain why I would say this.

Modern-day academia, (and thus the university system) is an unbroken loop of self-regulating, self-perpetuating, self-promoting, ego-centric elitists where the prime qualifications for maintaining "impeccable credentials" is to hold the faith, retain those concepts learned by rote, and be able to repeat them as taught. And I'm supposed to be impressed? Keep in mind, once you attain that Ph.D, you don't have to accomplish one single thing, and you don't have to make any contribution in understanding our world in order to be considered one of the establishment elite. Within academia, it is sufficient to theorize some minor facet of a known and familiar science, do some tests, document the same, and then,( and this is the key element,) do whatever it takes to get your results published. After all, publication to physicists and scientists is the ultimate goal. Never mind that your obscure work will never be read, never mind that your determinations are meaningless. Just get published. Ride the current and don't make waves. And this approach is meaningful and superior?

The only thing that should matter to anyone is the end result. The result of our newly graduating Ph.D's is that they have the basics, but until one may contribute to our collective knowledge, or successfully accomplish a breakthrough, then all they have done is spend time in a specified regimen.

Our current educational system is stagnant, and is turning out stagnancy. That is why we are doing the same old things with brighter, newer equipment.”

© Ruel F. Pepa, May 2010

A MESSAGE FOR "DOCTORED" DEGREE HOLDERS

[The following is the full text of a letter written by a certain Michael Riggs in defense of Dr Tom Bearden's Doctorate Degree in Philosophy (PhD) awarded on the basis of the latter's life and work experiences as a distinguished scientist. It is worth carefully reflecting on the eye-opening wisdom of the many points Mr Riggs raises in the said letter.]


From: mcriggs
To: sterlingda@perentech.com
Sent: Friday, January 31, 2003 3:18 PM


Dear Sterling,

I envy those with enough time to delve into and discuss whether Dr. Bearden received a doctorate, and from where. I never had that luxury myself, but if you'll grant me a moment, I would like to address the idea of a "diploma mill."

While one may not agree with me, the definition of a diploma mill is an educational facility where one meets minimal, structured, educational requirements in order to acquire a degree. While I do not wish to belittle the efforts of those who have gone through the prescribed educational processes required, by say, the top 100 universities, I would say that based on the end result, our top-rated universities definitely meet the definition of diploma mills, including any "top" university you wish to select. Let me explain why I would say this.

Modern-day academia, (and thus the university system) is an unbroken loop of self-regulating, self-perpetuating, self-promoting, ego-centric elitists where the prime qualifications for maintaining "impeccable credentials" is to hold the faith, retain those concepts learned by rote, and be able to repeat them as taught. And I'm supposed to be impressed? Keep in mind, once you attain that Ph.D, you don't have to accomplish one single thing, and you don't have to make any contribution in understanding our world in order to be considered one of the establishment elite. Within academia, it is sufficient to theorize some minor facet of a known and familiar science, do some tests, document the same, and then,( and this is the key element,) do whatever it takes to get your results published. After all, publication to physicists and scientists is the ultimate goal. Never mind that your obscure work will never be read, never mind that your determinations are meaningless. Just get published. Ride the current and don't make waves. And this approach is meaningful and superior?

The only thing that should matter to anyone is the end result. The result of our newly graduating Ph.D's is that they have the basics, but until one may contribute to our collective knowledge, or successfully accomplish a breakthrough, then all they have done is spend time in a specified regimen.

Our current educational system is stagnant, and is turning out stagnancy. That is why we are doing the same old things with brighter, newer equipment.

If today, Nicola Tesla were to manifest himself, he would be welcome at any university in the world, and in a teaching position. His credentials? No Ph.D. Yet he knew far more than his contemporaries, including those that would carry a Ph.D. behind their names today. In his own time, he stated to Einstein his disagreement on certain elements of Einstein's theory, the results of the Michaleson and Morley experiment, Max Planck, and Neils Bohr. His reasoning? "I think they are relying too much on theories and equations, and not enough on experimentation. . . . Today's scientists have substituted mathematics for experiments and they wander through equation after equation and eventually build a structure which has no relation to reality." As Tesla told Einstein, "I base my theories upon experiments combined with mathematical formulae, instead of experimentation alone, like Thomas Edison, or mathematics alone, which Herr Einstein seems to prefer."

And speaking of Einstein. He was not a physicist when he turned out his most important work. He worked in a patent office as a clerk. Credentials? They certainly wouldn't meet muster in what the academic elite would require, but that wouldn't change the reality of his unique, and in some area, his superior knowledge.

Again, results. State of being. Acquisition and retention of knowledge. Is Dr. Bearden's state of mind equal or even far superior to those Ph.D's that are being churned out of our university system today? Let me answer it this way. Sterling Allan, Eric Krieg, or any others of his detractors could only get into this history books if they accomplished something spectacular, such as committed a mass murder. But you can rest assured that Dr. Tom Bearden in the decades, and centuries to come will be remembered and reflected on as a torch bearer of new knowledge in a number of scientific fields.

Why contact John Bedini in these matters? And why were John's replies a bit short? I can tell you. John has been exposed to such monumental elements of triviality and group stupidity, that if he ever had any patience with folks of such ilk, he's certainly lost it by now. Here's the secret to John Bedini. He doesn't have time for such meaningless triviality. John doesn't talk. John does. John has a big heart, and a mind that is a well-spring of knowledge. But his patience for stupidity and foolish endeavors which are nothing short of manifestations of jealous ignorance is zero.

In the jungles of Viet Nam, I met a gentleman of minor royalty who was serving in the United States army as a PFC. His proper title was "Sir ______. The difference between he and I? I slept in this _____hole here, and he slept in a _____hole over there.

Where you get your degree or how really shouldn't be the defining criteria, but what you do with your knowledge through accomplishment is what really counts at the end of the day. I can show you Ph.D's from the nation's most prestigious schools who couldn't jump-start a car. To hold a Ph.D from MIT and to have done little with it beyond hang it on a wall is more meaningful than what Dr. Bearden has done?

I dare say that if you brought in five physicists and engineers from each of the top 100 universities, for a total of 500 of the cream of physicists and EM engineers, and let John and Dr. Bearden teach them for one week, they would learn more about physics and EM theory and applications than they received in their entire educational process.

And you are concerned with credentials? Do as you wish. Others have their Ph.D's. Dr. Bearden has his. And you would know it was well-earned if you would spend just a few hours in his presence. Absolutely illuminating. His unique specialty is what psychologists call "abstract conceptualization." He has the unique ability to disassemble a new discovery or technology, and then determine what the operational concepts are which are at work. And the funny thing is, all his determinations are verifiable from selectively obscure determinations made by others. Dr. Bearden is an excellent example of a person who through education, independent learning, bench time, theory and application, as well as exposure and experiences, have earned the title and honor of being called, "Doctor."

While Dr. Bearden has repeatedly asked me to call him Tom, I'll keep addressing him as Dr. Bearden, as there could be no other appropriate address..

Thank you for your time,

Michael Riggs


SOURCE:

http://freeenergynews.com/Directory/Beware/Bearden_Bogus_PhD/#Comment_mcriggs

BASKING UNDER THE HIGH-NOON SUN OF HARDCORE DELUSION

Trinity University of Asia (TUA) is now levitating under the magical spell of the Commission on Higher Education’s make-believe power after the former has been granted an autonomous status by the latter. Hubris is the most appropriate term for the spirit that has possessed TUA since the official proclamation was issued. A certain type of delusion has overpowered the leadership of the university in the belief that TUA now is in league with the illustrious Ateneo and De La Salle. What a horrendous hallucination! The most appalling disorder of TUA is its utter failure to face the reality that what it can only solidly boast of is the momentary achievements of its College of Nursing—the St. Luke’s College of Nursing—which was founded generations ago when Trinity was not even yet in swaddling clothes.

The irony of the present circumstances is that TUA is in a state of unequalled “high” despite the hard reality that it cannot actually lay a solid claim to an array of distinguished honest-to-goodness scholars from among its stockpile of “doctored” degree holders. Ateneo’s and De La Salle’s doctorate degree holders are authentic scholars who have produced academic outputs of high scholarly worth published in notable scholarly journals, local and international. Ateneo’s and De La Salle’s academic scholars have read papers and lectured in prominent conferences and forums, local and international.

But the present situation of TUA is still salvageable given the condition that it will soon wake up to reality. Face-to-face with reality, it can soberly locate itself right at the place where it can start off: the call to challenge genuine scholars and the guts to weed out incompetence in its faculty ranks.

Short of romanticizing the past, TUA could have been standing tall right at this point in time in a state of genuine greatness would it still have the authentic scholars of the more or less recent gone-by era—luminaries that it unfortunately failed to acknowledge when they still walked the corridors of its campus: The University-of-Paris-educated biologist, Dr. Rey de la Paz; the biologist ,Prof. Valentin Berdera; the University-of-Marburg-educated development economist, Dr Jun Camat; the journalist, Carlos Bueno; and the scholar of Comparative Literature, Prof. Alona Ureta- Guevarra. Those were the days, my friends, I thought they’d never end. Those were the days when we could have been genuinely prouder than basking now under the high-noon sun of hardcore delusion.

© Ruel F. Pepa, 17 April 2010

THE DARING AND ADVENTUROUS PEPAS OF ALL THE WORLD

(with special emphasis on the Philippine bloodline)

One basic premise that introduces my theory of the origin of the Pepa family/clan as it is found in the Philippines is that the family name is so unique there are very few who have it—very much unlike the more common Spanish-sounding family names in the Philippines like Cruz, Reyes, Martinez, Gonzales, and Rodriguez among others. Philippine history tells us that during the early days of Spanish colonization in this archipelago which later became known as Las Islas Filipinas, the Spanish colonial government inaugurated a massive Hispanization program to make the archipelago a full-fledged Spanish colonial territory. One aspect of the said program was the introduction of lists of common Spanish-sounding family names from which the islanders were supposed to choose and assume the family names they decided to have. On this basis, my initial hypothesis is that “Pepa” was not included in any of those lists released archipelago-wide. And this hypothesis introduces my next premise.

“Spanish” family names not widespread in the Philippines—being not included in the lists previously mentioned—are genuinely of peninsular origin, i.e., actually carried over to the archipelago by Spaniards who came all the way from the mother country, Spain, and decided to stay and live and raise families in the archipelago for good. Through time, offspring of these Spaniards—if not actually they themselves—later cohabited or intermarried with the local Malay residents producing half-breeds known as “mestizos”.

Now what about the Pepa family name in Spain? Is it originally Spanish? Taking a very feasible cue from the celebrated world-class Canadian violinist and composer, Michael Pepa (whose family migrated from Romania to Canada), the original Pepa family came all the way from southern Europe among adventurous itinerant merchants whose roots were Greek. They traveled all throughout southern and eastern Europe initially to Albania. This explains why there are so many Pepas in Albania. As time went on, some of them traveled further north to Kosovo while others traversed the Adriatic Sea and settled in Italy. Generations passed until the emergence of the powerful Spanish Empire which lured some of the “Italian” Pepas to migrate to Spain. By way of either France or by crossing the Mediterranean Sea, a fresh generation of Pepas who saw wealth and opportunities in the newly-emerged powerful empire migrated, settled and established roots in Spain.

From Spain, some of these Pepas who never lost the adventurous spirit of their Greek ancestors decided to join hordes of Spanish colonialists to try their fortune in a newly discovered Pacific islands later named Las Islas Filipinas. Meanwhile, those who earlier decided to go northward later spread in countries like Romania, Bulgaria and what is now known as Czech Republic. The more adventurous ones went further onward to Germany and even to England. The discovery of the New World—the Americas—lured the perennially adventurous of them to go to the US, Canada and Argentina among others.

A very significant aspect of this theory is the explicitation of the collective unconscious that characterizes the daring and adventurous spirit of our Greek ancestors.


© Ruel F.Pepa 01 January 2010