I used to be a comics fanatic. I liked all types- westerns, super heroes, fantasies, science fiction, classics, fairy tales and the funnies. My allowance in grade school was spent more on comics and books than on food and toys. In fact, I was very proud and caring about my collection.
I expanded my access and reading of comics by being probably the best customer of the renting out of comics by the Good Luck Bazaar and the Liberty Store in the town market of San Fernando. I would like to believe that this laid down the foundation for my love for literature, reading and academic orientation.
It was a world of good and bad, of heroes and villains, where the good and the heroes always won in the end.
It may not have been the pragmatic preparation for the realities of the world but it is the correct nurturing to develop values, vision and mission for young minds. It was simple but fun and nostalgic among all other dimensions and experiences of our youth.
I remember the indian greeting the paleface cowboy, “How” as a greeting of peace. Whether this is historically accurate or not does not matter. In fact, the indian red skin always lost to the white man who spoke with “forked tongue”, virtually decimated the buffaloes and land grabbed the territories.
Being confined to reservations, Sitting Bull, who wiped out General Yellow Hair Custer and his troops, had to suffer the insult of appearing in wild western shows and rodeos in his old age. His story is told in a pamphlet aptly titled, “My Heart Lies Buried at Wounded Knee.”
A tale of cowboys and Indians is metaphorically being enacted in the declaration of strike by the Holy Angel University Teachers and Employees Union (HAUTEU) at the Holy Angel University (HAU).
According to the handouts being given from the “teepees” set up around the fence of HAU, this strike has been resorted to because in the CBA negotiations the HAU management panel has refused to have a recomputation of the financial data in the interests of “transparency, accountability and highest ethical standards.”
This is to ensure that the teachers and employees have received their entitlements from the tuition fee increases as specified by RA 6728. This law requires that from approved tuition fee increases, 70% will be given to the teachers and employees, 20% may be allocated for infrastructures and facilities and 10% for profit.
Computation is a clear and defined mathematical processeven in financial terms. There should be very little differences and variances in such an objective procedure, particularly for an academic institution which prides itself on so many values, honors and achievements as proclaimed by its advertising tarpaulins hanged around its fences. How HAU?
I have chaired the management panel for the negotiations of various Collective Bargaining Agreements.
I am probably fortunate and grateful that these have all been resolved to the satisfaction of both parties.
This is due to the good faith and honest participation of everyone. That is the basic point, both parties must act in good faith. The wellbeing and common good must be the highest value. It is said that in negotiations, there is give and take for both parties and that one must not “kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.”
Transparency is another standard. The necessary information to arrive at a fair and honest position must be available, clear, understood and accepted by all concerned. There should be no “under the table” and “divide and rule” strategies and entitlements.
The university has three main endeavours — teaching, research and extension work. It is supposed to be the repository of knowledge of the community. It is itself a community which is the brain which provides the cultural, liberal arts, science, technical and functional requirements of the life of the larger community which it serves.
It must, therefore, be collegial in character, management and operations. It must adhere to the highest moral and ethical standards and practices.
In practical terms, there should have been many other options before a strike, which does not really win as a highest and best alternative for both parties. Likewise, it should be emphasized that the quality of a school cannot be higher than the quality of its teachers.
As I frequently state, a school can have the best facilities, equipment, buildings, site, finances and others which are all desirable. However, even with the best of these, mediocre teachers will still result in a mediocre school.
But if the school may not have the best in all other things but has great teachers, then that school can be a great school.
A great western I have always liked is The Lone Ranger. At the end of each story or episode, after overcoming all the bad guys, the Lone Ranger rides off into the sunset, shouting, “Hiyo Silver, Away!” with the indian Tonto at his side shouting, “KemoSabe!” I hope that the strike is resolved well and soon. Frankly, the sector on the losing end here are the STUDENTS. LAUS DEO SEMPER!
