Titser song by: Inang Laya

Lyrics:

Titser genius ka kaya?

Bukod sa lesson plan may tesis pang ginagawa.
Lagari sa tahanan, kayod sa eskwela;
Wonder Woman ka ngunit wala namang laya.

Titser ito bay himala?

Sa kay raming campus lagi kang nakikita;
nalilibot ang u-belt sa buong umaga;
Itoy di hiwaga nagmo-moonlight ka lang pala.

Titser, iyan nga bay tama?

Kakaunti ang kita at may take-home work ka pa.
Sa hirap ng buhay, ikay part-time na tindera
ng mga PX goods, panty, bra, longganisa.

Titser gumising na tayo.

Tayoy ginawang tagabura ng boto.
Tagabenta ng ticket, tagahalo ng kalburo,
Nagsayaw pa sa airport ng wala namang sweldo.

Titser, kumilos na tayo

Ang edukasyon ay hindi gawang biro
Huwag nang magpaloko at magsawalang-kibo
Tayoy kalahok sa pambansang pagbabago.

REFLECTION:

The song is a description of a life of a teacher. It tries to awaken our minds that having a
noble profession doesn’t mean being noble at all times ..for your future and for
self-upliftment.

A teacher is known to be a selfless figure who puts in all the efforts to teach their students
all the knowledge that they have gained in their entire life. Thinking of spending even a
single day in the life of a teacher is in itself quite challenging and a task to be accomplished.
The profession of teaching brings along numerous responsibilities. A teacher is someone
who is indirectly responsible for the future of his/her students, for planning and then
evaluating student performance. They are then responsible for promoting growth through
providing additional assistance and meeting with parents and school staff to discuss student
development and ways to improve current teaching methods to better suit students. It is a
teacher’s daunting task to add life to their student’s school day by generating interest in all
subject areas, even those that can be tedious for most students. They work to create lesson
plans tailored to their students’ level of cognitive abilities and interests.

It is most rewarding for teachers when they really make a difference in a child’s life; when
they are able to ignite curiosity and growth in their students. But as much as teaching can be
rewarding, it can also be frustrating and stressful when dealing with unmotivated students,
large classes, and heavy workloads. Most significantly, teachers will sometimes have to deal
with unruly behaviour and violence from students. Despite the seemingly short workday
teachers put in, they tend to work longer than the average 40 hours a week clocked for most
occupations. This is due to the preparation, paperwork, and grading that must occur outside
of normal school hours. Many teachers work part-time, especially those who teach in
preschool and kindergarten. While most teachers work a 10-month school year with two
months’ vacation in the summer, some work at summer programs or at other jobs to meet
their necessities.

Just as they wake up, they have to run for the early morning race. The race with time and
self. Waking up too early, getting dressed perfectly, reaching on time and never losing
temper; the few most important things that one needs to abide by at all times. A teacher
should be one such being whom the students can look up to. A teacher should be a role
model for his/her students. Being the holder of such a position, one does not have an
alternative other than to fulfil its demands.

Reaching the school on time, a teacher has to keep track of the syllabus and the schedule for
various different classes that he/she has been allotted. Teaching students moral values and
possessing them on your own are the few things that inform the tasks of a teacher. Talking
practically, it becomes difficult to handle a notorious child even for a while. Hats off to the
teachers who are expected to handle an entire class of a huge number of students, all at
once. Just like the fingers of a hand are not of the same size, neither are the students all
similar. Fortunately, a teacher might get a few sincere, innocent students in his/her class,
but the majority will always comprise of naughty ones. Handling such students of different
age groups is a task almost next to impossible.

Along with being friends with patience, a teacher needs to have a good throat as well. Giving
lectures to students the entire day, shouting at the mischievous behaviour of the students
and then having conversations with fellow teachers and the parents of the students, all
demand a marvellous throat. One cannot be tired or refuse to answer any question,
irrespective of what the teacher is going through. It is only in the lunch break when a
teacher can feed himself/herself. Even if by chance a teacher gets a free period, he/she is
not spared by the school authorities. There are such a number of papers to be graded and
assignments to be prepared that the teacher is left with no time to breathe.

During the last few hours of the school, both the students and the teachers get so tired that
neither of them wishes to get back to all the hard work again. But a teacher cannot afford to
wish for any leisure time. Regaining all the courage, and accepting the tiredness of the
students, it becomes a lot more difficult to gather the attention and the interest of the
students. Students get the golden opportunity to rush back to their homes once the school
hours get over and take a sigh of relief; while the teachers are never fortunate enough. They
have to finish up with their extra classes and the extra duties they have been assigned.

After finishing all the work, teachers are allowed to get back to their place of peace in the
late afternoon. Although they are allowed to take a sigh of relief but the work never gets
finished. The concept of “Work from Home” continues to run behind. Teachers have to
prepare the subject matter for the next day. After finishing the tasks of today, teachers have
to begin with the preparations for tomorrow. And then, after a short sleep, comes the next
morning full of similar activities of the previous day.

Even though the regular days of a teacher are quite monotonous, teachers seem to enjoy
each day of their life that they selflessly dedicate to knowledge and learning. The innocent
activities of young children, the small fights that youngsters cry over, the sincerity and
honesty in the eyes of the students, all make up for the frustrations and tiredness of the
regular days.
Hats off to all the teachers!!

Nevertheless those good deeds.. teachers are not well appreciated by this government, the
endless clamour for salary increase still on updates and promises.Yes, the quality of
education depends solely on the quality of teachers, but although they are highly qualified
without adequate support and resources ,teachers would not survive!! The future in
nation-building depends on quality education, and the government should take
consideration why teachers claim that they are not well compensated, the reason why they
have to turn to lending loan sharks who took advantage of their situation.

Changes.. as we all want to be, yet the future of our learners is what keep us taunting not to
stop and continue to embrace the flow and trend of the educational system. Let us just
continue to make a difference to our learners not for ourselves but for the future of the new
generation.
BAHAY by; Gary Granada

Isang araw ako'y nadalaw sa bahay tambakan

Labinglimang mag-anak ang duo'y nagsiksikan
Nagtitiis sa munting barung-barong na sira-sira
Habang doon sa isang mansyon halos walang nakatira
Sa init ng tabla't karton sila doo'y nakakulong
Sa lilim ng yerong kalawang at mga sirang gulong
Pinagtagpi-tagping basurang pinatungan ng bato
Hindi ko maintindihan bakit ang tawag sa ganito
Ay bahay
Sinulat ko ang nakita ng aking mga mata
Ang kanilang kalagayan ginawan ko ng kanta
Iginuhit at isinalarawan ang naramdaman
At sinangguni ko sa mga taong marami ang alam
Isang bantog na senador ang unang nilapitan ko
At dalubhasang propesor ng malaking kolehiyo
Ang pinagpala sa mundo, ang dyaryo at ang pulpito
Lahat sila'y nagkasundo na ang tawag sa ganito
Ay bahay
Maghapo't magdamag silang kakayod, kakahig
Pagdaka'y tutukang nakaupo lang sa sahig
Sa papag na gutay-gutay, pipiliting hihimlay
Di hamak na mainam pa ang pahingahan ng mga patay
Baka naman isang araw kayo doon ay maligaw
Mahipo n'yo at marinig at maamoy at matanaw
Hindi ako nangungutya, kayo na rin ang magpasya
Sa palagay ninyo kaya, ito sa mata ng Maylikha
Ay bahay

REFLECTION:

The song, as the title implies, speaks of the physical structure that accommodates the
smallest unit of the community, the family. But unlike other homes, the song focuses on
houses located along dump sites whose resident families are among the poor and

underprivileged. The song, in a nutshell, elucidates the representations,

non-representations and more-than-representations of living in an informal settlement. An

eminent comparison of what is like to be poor and to be the poorest of all.

The song, narrated in an observant’s point of view, provides an insight on the lives of

informal settlers. Urbanization and the problems created by its subsequent uneven
development positions the living conditions of the underprivileged as collateral damage.
The stanza speaks of struggle regarding space and the consequent social inequity. Poor
families, due to lack of opportunity and access for decent housing facilities are made to live
within small spaces, of houses not built within acceptable proportions, and of substandard
materials, just to have a roof over their head.

On the contrary, the rich are able to acquire properties of which spaces are more than

enough for one household. Though not necessarily their fault, the imbalance between social
capacities, as mediated by the entire fabric of the social system, proliferates the divide and
puts the pressure on the vulnerable side of the scale, the poor people.

It takes hands to build a house, but only hearts can build a home.

What is a house? What is a home? There’s a big difference,

let me tell you!

A house is just a wooden structure put together by nails and wood. Who really cares about
nails and wood. Not me, but if I did not have a house like a lot of families I probably would,
especially when that house becomes a home! Yes poverty is always adjudged by the kind of
shelter we have. But, who are we to judge those settlers if what they have is a house or
not.They have no means to turn to but the present situation they are in, whether they like it
or not, is the only shelter they can learn to adapt. Its a depressing situation to see Filipinos
living in such kind of stuff. YES!A home is a place where you feel warm and cozy. You have
things around you that are special and have meaning, but most of all you are surrounded by
people you love and who love you. A family makes a house a home by living in it and
making it special.

This is just an awakening situation to our government, that instead of allocating budget and
funds to projects where only the capitalists and the wealthy can compensate why not make
a housing project for the poor and uplift their standard of living through also providing them
livelihood income.
Crisis of Capitalism

‘Capitalism, a global system that puts profits before people, has brought us to the brink of
a climate-induced catastrophe that can destroy humanity.’

There is no ‘sustainable capitalism’. There’s ‘disaster capitalism’, which epitomizes capitalist

greed for profit, at any cost.

And this is happening before our very eyes. In the Philippines, we go through one climate
crisis after another, with the loss of thousands of lives. And the class issues don’t recede, but
come to the forefront, because it’s the poor who are the most vulnerable, while the rich flee
in their helicopters, as we witnessed during Typhoon Yolanda.

Now they are coming back, like vultures, to make profits out of the disaster and human
misery. Most of Filipinos whoa re in a high pedestal especially those in politics completely
wedded to preserving and serving these neo-liberal capitalist interests.

Capitalism is defined as an economic system in which a country’s trade, industry, and profits
are controlled by private companies, instead of by the people whose time and labor powers
those companies. The United States and many other nations around the world are capitalist
countries, but capitalism is not the only economic system available; throughout history,
other countries have embraced other systems, like socialism or communism, so it’s
important to explore what capitalism actually is.Meaning, the kind of practices and
malpractices are the problem itself.

In the Philippines, one factor that affect our economy are the capitalists who invades the
business either public or private ones.Capitalism has dominated societies for the past three

to four decades. In much of the Western world, this form of liberal capitalism relied on a

creed built on faith in free markets, deregulation and small government. Even economists in

some non Western countries, like the Philippines have embraced this ideology.

In this case, the video is trying us to see the reality of living between the rich and the
poor.Due to greed, hungry for fame and power, this world has no heart for those who are at
the lowest level.Rivalry and competitions are everywhere, seeking no justice for those who

are oppressed.Human frailty is just but natural, but we must always abide to the word of
God not to lead us astray.When love and care prevails there will no inequality and those
who have a wealthy living shall be generous enough to share their blessings to the needy.

This kind of crisis can affect humanity, especially their economic way of living, especially
nowadays that we are suffering from various dilemna. Each and everyone must be vigilant
and prepared to every life crisis we may encounter.