Phoebe V.

Manuba NSTP FA 1
2015-00768 Ins Mabyn Rosales

HUMAN RIGHTS
Reaction Paper
09-11-17

Human Rights is a very sensitive topic. Usually, ordinary people especially youth tend
to overlook the importance of knowing the real meaning of human rights. And honestly, I am
one of those people. A discussion about something as relevant as this is something to anticipate
for.

The speaker started off at the very basic. Successfully incorporating active participation
from the audience, he tackled the definitions, meanings, explanations of each of the words that
compromise the topic- Human and Rights. At this point, I had a sudden realization that, I,
myself, am not fully aware of what connection those two words really have. From this point on,
the discussion moved on very smoothly, not leaving a single bit of uncertainty unexplained or
left behind. To my surprise, Human Rights actually branches to a lot of other exceptionally
important sub-topics that we as Filipinos and as human beings have to be aware of. We have
there the Constitution and the Rule of Law, their characteristics, real life applications and
positive and negative effects.

The discussion went very detailed. We even learned about the Human Rights defined
as something that a person have or does not have. This is where the previous subtopic
mentioned takes a big part- the Rule of Law. Described as something that puts limit to what a
person can or cannot do, Rule of Law also takes various essential roles in the society. Firstly, it
acts as a convention. Through it, the nation displays a sense of uniformity. From here, the
second most important role Rule of Law plays arises- it forms and enhances the unity of the
nation. Other roles have also been discussed which were quite similar or connected to the two
previously mentioned.

Moreover, Human Rights was effectively elaborated through giving off examples in
real life situations. This is where the positive and negative conditions of Rule of Law were
discussed. Divided into groups, we, the audience, had to give positive and negative effects of
Rule of Law if it were to be removed or to be retained in the system. Apparently, we failed at
giving reasons or positive effects of Rule of Law if it is to be eradicated. And the group retain
successfully gave accurate reasons as to why it is just right for the Rule of Law to be
implemented in the nations system. One final word from the speaker caught my attention
regarding this, The nation will be chaotic if the Rule of Law does not exist.
Phoebe V. Manuba NSTP FA 1
2015-00768 Ins Mabyn Rosales

PHILIPPINE SOCIETY AND CULTURE

Reaction Paper
09-18-17

Philippine Society and Culture is a very wide topic. As expected, the discussion went
very broad jumping from one subtopic to another. There were a lot of subtopics elaborated
such as education, law, livelihood, nation building, government, entertainment etc.

The speaker was very detailed and organized. Each subtopic was explained to the very
most information. Based from my observations, education took a huge part in the overall
discussion, probably because K-12 or senior high school education is slowly making a huge
impact in the Philippine society. Pros and cons about K-12 were defined. This part obviously
focused on the positive effects and benefits offered by the K-12 program. Defined as a program
that gives advanced opportunities to produced students, introduction to labor and livelihood
programs arouse.

The discussion from this part went a little bit technical because of the several statistic
records and graphs shown to emphasize numbers and rates related to jobs and labor in the
Philippines. Employment rates and unemployment rates were flashed. But the point is that, in
the Philippine Society, quite a percentage of the population is composed of unemployed
Filipinos. And that somehow, relates to the governments performance.

The government in the Philippines was said to have the control offered to the
countrymen but looking at the happenings in the society in the past few years, the latter
definition or role of the Philippine government is sort of fluctuating. Relevant real life events
were mentioned and put a strong showcase of emotion from the speaker and the audience. For
example, todays Dutertes regime and several human rights abiding cases like that of Kian and
that of Lumads.

And so, from that point, questions about nation-building took place. I, myself, out-of-
the-blue wondered how, just how, can the Philippines and the Filipinos continue in its nation-
building progress if there are such horrendous incidents like the latter case mentioned.

We also went a little light in the discussion in the part of entertainment. I just realized
how entertainment actually takes a huge part in the countrys economics. The fact that our
taxes is actually spent a lot in entertainment businesses got me a little bit surprised and
doubtful, but then reality hit me and realized that it actually makes sense. This only shows how
entertainment takes a big area in the culture of the Filipinos.

Overall, discussions like this, about our country, provoke some sense of enlightenment
in the minds of Filipinos. This made me realize that it is actually important to impart
information about our countrys society and culture. We need more socially aware and socially
active contributing Filipinos.