During one of my visits at the Kaisa Headquarters in time for the upcoming USC Elections in UP Diliman, Sanlakas Youth Vice Chair BJ Costales introduced three of his slatemates for an orientation to our organization.
They are BJ’s co-councilor Jose Alinea of the College of Engineering, Tourism Representative Sheena Botiwey and Science Representative Gino Leynes.
Each one of them exudes a leader’s presence at first glance and they were eventually recruited to Sanlakas Youth. I had a couple of chit-chats with each of them hours after but Jose’s story is the most interesting for me. His story speaks alot of his character.
Jose is one of the living reasons why the tuition increase should not have been approved two years ago. He is also one of the greatest arguments in support of the assertion that the STFAP has never been effective to aid poor-but-deserving students in pursuing UP education.
This Sta. Rosa Science High School alumnus told me that both his parents are unemployed. His mother was actually problematic about his college education after he failed to qualify for Bracket C of the STFAP. So despite his family’s obvious difficult condition, UP is still requiring him to pay 600 pesos per unit.
It is a good thing though that through his intelligence and diligence, he managed to be a scholar of the Department of Science and Technology.
But I’ve never seen him as a grade-conscious student. All the support that he is getting from his officers and co-members from the Philippine Society of Mechanical Engineers speaks a lot how active he is.
And as we unify Kaisa member-organizations about a disqualification case against his and some of his slatemates’ candidacy, it turned out that NCPAGSC Vice Chair Jhai Galenzoga is one of his dormmates, at the Yakal Residence Hall, and she was disheartened of the possibility of UP students being robbed of the opportunity to vote someone like Jose.
“Napakasipag na bata pa naman ni Jose,” Jhai disappointedly commented. Well, as a frequent visitor of the Kaisa HQ and as a keen observer of candidates’ behaviour, I must agree.
That same day that I managed to inform Jhai of the disqualification issue, Kaisa marched towards Quezon Hall and met with another party, Stand UP, to protest the said USEB decision.
The unity of Kaisa and Stand UP that night bore fruit as it produced enough pressure to make the USEB decide in favor of the supposedly disqualified candidates including Jose.
That night, cheers reverberated at the Kaisa HQ in celebration of that victory. And as I observe all of them, Jose is there silently smiling in his usual unassuming way.
I hope he is thinking that it is a good thing that he is now given a chance to fight for the rights of students like him; of working class origin.
February 11, 2009 at 9:07 pm
hi there! bumped into a contact’s repost of this article and decided to leave a comment here. jose is my orgmate in psme, and i must say that he is an active member, resposible and reliable in all projects given to him.
he is an asset to our organization, and for sure will be a great asset to the up community as well.
ill repost this in my personal site, hope you don’t mind. ill link back. thanks! =)
February 12, 2009 at 10:08 am
very true!
allow me to repost this in my personal site. thanks.. 🙂
February 13, 2009 at 6:20 pm
thanks ghoent and rheymar. you’re definitely free to repost, forward or link to this article. 🙂
February 15, 2009 at 5:40 am
i, too, am very proud of jose. i reposted this. i hope he wins!
February 15, 2009 at 10:09 am
go jose!
February 16, 2009 at 1:35 pm
Jose Alinea gets my vote. 🙂
February 20, 2009 at 4:19 pm
Kuya, you should’ve told me about this agad. hehe. 🙂
Well, I admire that kid talaga. Masipag and he never gives up agad. Nag-iisip. Hindi siya basta-bastang tumatanggap ng ideya hangga’t hindi napapag-isipan nang mabuti. 🙂
Go Jose! 🙂 My prayers are with you. 🙂
-Ate Jhai
February 20, 2009 at 4:22 pm
Very redundant lang yung *agad ko. Sorry. 🙂
March 1, 2009 at 4:29 pm
Just passing by.Btw, you website have great content!
March 2, 2009 at 8:39 am
anu daw? congrats jose! woohooow! kayang kaya mo yan! 🙂