Sisterhood on the Dance Floor
If there’s one act that screams empowerment and confidence, it’s dancing. Combine it with an all-girl group synchronized to the beat, it’s a striking vision of power, especially at a time where more young women are stepping up.
Eight schools battled it out on the court that served as the dance floor for the 2nd Hip-hop Dance Competition during the 50th Women's National Collegiate Athletic Association (WNCAA) opening last September 21, at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Goddesses of dance
“Let’s go, let’s go!” St. Paul College Pasig’s 16-member dance crew, fondly called as Terpsichore Street after the goddess of dance, simultaneously chanted as they popped and locked to the music. With their impressive moves and determined facial expressions, they came out on top for the Juniors Division.
But behind every performance is a set of struggles. The group actually had limited time to practice due to the numerous suspension of classes and conflicting schedules, said Pau O’Keeffe, a Grade 11 Terpsichore Street member.
Being the family that these girls were, they made sure that this hindrance didn’t affect their performance.
Girl bosses
Meanwhile, the University of Asia and the Pacific’s (UA&P) Squadra, last year’s 1st Runner Up, emerged as Champion this season for the Seniors Division. Dressed in sleek white pants and blazers, the ladies knew their first rule of business was to win, and so they did.
For Kyra Matela, 3rd year at UA&P, she has her “family” to thank for - composed of young women who empower each other with every dance move.
Just like any other family, they went through hardships. Perhaps the biggest challenge of them all was building chemistry among the new members who were competing for the first time. Combine it with the stress of academics, the pressure was high for them to clinch the championship this time.
But for these women, their eyes were on the prize. “It served as a motivation for us to train and hustle harder even when we were facing obstacles towards the overall execution of the piece. We pick each other up whenever we stumble and we constantly support each other,” said Kyra.
Dancing is no easy feat but when you have fellow women in the front lines with you, everything else can be conquered.
Assumption Antipolo placed 2nd Runner Up while San Beda College Alabang won 1st Runner Up for the Juniors Division. For the Seniors Division, Centro Escolar University won 2nd Runner Up with the University of Makati as 1st Runner Up.
St. Scholastica’s College and Philippine Women’s University also competed in the Seniors Division.
The five participating schools in the Seniors Division will directly enter the finals of the Southeast Asian Games special Hip-hop competition on October 12, 2019. The winner will perform at a special event organized by the SEA Games.
Women Destined for Greatness: WNCAA @ 50
Women Destined for Greatness: WNCAA @ 50 By Nicole Venice Rey Fifty years ago, a sports league dedicated to women was unimaginable. Fast forward to the age of #MeToo movement, an image of women leading fellow women athletes is as powerful as it can be.
Women’s National Collegiate Athletic Association (WNCAA) opened its 50th season with the theme “Destined for Greatness”, Saturday, September 21, at the Mall of Asia Arena.
“Throughout the years, the WNCAA has contributed to making the Filipina athlete as great as she is today. The WNCAA has been the platform that has inspired women to accomplish great tasks, catapulting her to the peak of her game,” said Yolanda Co, president of the WNCAA.
Participating schools this season are Assumption Antipolo, Assumption College San Lorenzo, Centro Escolar University, Chiang Kai Shek College, De La Salle Zobel School, La Salle College Antipolo, Miriam College, Philippine Women’s University, Saint Jude Catholic School, San Beda College Alabang, St. Paul College Pasig, St. Scholastica’s College, St. Stephen’s High School, University of Asia and the Pacific, and University of Makati.
This year, all 15 schools will co-host the season.
Last season’s winners were also awarded. For the Midgets Division: St. Paul College Pasig (Overall Champion), Miriam College (1st Runner Up), De La Salle Zobel (2nd Runner Up). For the Juniors Division: De La Salle Zobel (Overall Champion), St. Paul College Pasig (1st Runner Up), San Beda College Alabang (2nd Runner Up). For the Seniors Division: Centro Escolar University (Overall Champion), San Beda College Alabang & University of Makati (1st Runner Up), Philippine Women’s University (2nd Runner Up).
WNCAA has continuously paved the way for women to excel in a male-dominated field with its commitment to “empowering women with equal rights and opportunities in sports”.
Manila Mayor Isko Moreno spoke as a guest of honor.
The 2nd Hip-hop dance competition followed afterward.
“Doy”: A Celebration of A Great Writer
Clodualdo Del Mundo Jr., also known as “Doy” to his colleagues and students, immortalizes his presence in Philippine Cinema through the list of films that he has written – this includes, Itim (1997), Kakabakaba Ka Ba? (1980), Kisapmata (1981), and Batch 81 (1982), among others. The list of his work also includes Maynila: Sa Mga Kuko ng Liwanag (1975), directed by the great Lino Brocka and regarded as one of the best films in Philippine Cinema. Sir Doy has also ventured into directing with his 2005 Cinemalaya entry, Pepot Artista, which was awarded Best Film during the festival’s launch. The list goes on for this reserved, down-to-earth, and soft-spoken filmmaker who has astonishingly created the most passionate and fiery lines of all time in Philippine Cinema.
His ever-humble presence is in clear and direct contrast with the diverse array of characters that he has created, some of which include Sid Lucero, portrayed by Mark Gil in Batch ’81, a student who joins a fraternity notorious for its violence; Dadong Carandang, characterized by Vic Silayan in Kisapmata, a father who carries a secret incestuous relationship with his daughter; and Johnny, played by Christopher de Leon in Kakabakaba Ka Ba?, a man who unintentionally smuggles drugs from Japan. Sir Doy is heavily influenced by Italian Neo-realism, a movement that immerses itself in the reality of the poor and the working class, as manifested in his characters.
Despite his films being critically acclaimed both locally and internationally, Sir Doy admits to having difficulties in explaining the importance of his work. “It’s easy for doctors, engineers, farmers, to say that they are doing something important for nation-building but for a screenwriter like me or a filmmaker, I really have a hard time trying to rationalize the importance of what I’m doing.”
However, Sir Doy balances this by drawing inspiration from D.W. Griffith, a pioneer in American filmmaking. “He said, ‘My role as a director is to make you see’. I think that is what our role is as filmmakers - we try to make our viewers see what they don’t usually see around them or what they would not see normally or ordinarily so through film I try to make people see what I think is important or what I’m passionate about to make them see our environment, what is happening around us”, he says in an interview.
Sir Doy creates stories that reveal a wounded and problematic society and enigmatic characters that epitomize an entire generation. Behind the silver plaques and golden statues of recognition is a man of flourishing and exceptional ideas that go beyond the ordinary and unveil the mask of a hiding society.
I Like You When You Are Quiet by Pablo Neruda: An Analysis
Pablo Neruda is a Chilean poet known for his surrealistic and romantic poems. In 1971, he won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Originally written in Spanish, I Like You When You Are Quiet was published as a part of his book, The Essential Neruda: Selected Poems.
I in all honesty, at first did not understand the meaning of the poem and thought that it was all only romantic and sweet, but after thoroughly analyzing it, I found that indeed it was melancholic. I tried to read between the lines, so to speak, and I felt the pensive sadness of a distant lover, an outlying admirer in the streets seen as nothing more than an admirer. It could be deduced that anything can be inferred from the poem, given its inconsistencies, and in line with the rules of formal logic, one can derive anything from an inconsistency. It could also be said that this entire poem is used as a means to justify what the author is feeling and is also used as a means to vent out his pent up emotions.
The statement “I like you when you are quiet because it is as though you are absent” is a recurring line in the poem. At first glance, I thought “like” was mainly used in the romantic sense of the word, however, with the tone of the poem, it could more probably have been used to employ sarcasm.
Neruda does not mention any specific persona to which the poem is addressed. This suggests that the main character in the poem is universal and that the story can be experienced by anyone. He uses “you” as if talking to his audience, his readers. Perhaps the effect of the poem on the readers would not be as strong as it is had Neruda used other pronouns like “him” or “her”.
The use of figures of speech in the poem, especially in the fourth verse, “You are like the night, quiet and constellated. Your silence is of a star, so far away and solitary,” is what perhaps made the poem sound so romantic when, in actuality, it is far from that. The use of these figures of speech attempted to mask the true feeling of the poem which is melancholy, and it did this to a great effect that those who do not analyze it thoroughly would go on to believe that the poem is directly sweet and romantic.
On one hand, I felt harrowingly saddened, and the poem urged me to be in deep melancholic thought. What made the poem evoke a feeling of melancholy is that the speaker, throughout the poem, idealizes his lover. He romanticizes her so tremendously and to such an extent that even “a word” and “a smile” are already enough for him, despite the sweeping distance that separates them. However, it does not necessarily mean that this distance is in the physical sense because two people might be so close to each other but their hearts and minds are far away, which I believe leaves the stronger impact. True enough, the line “I like you when you are quiet and it is as though you are distant,” attests to this situation.
One thing I found interesting which was just previously mentioned is that “a word” and “a smile” are already enough for the speaker to believe that whatever they share is real. I, too, was once guilty of this but I have come to realize that words can only go so far.
On the other hand, I was still left a bit confused and distraught with this particular line: “and it looks as if a kiss had sealed your mouth.” I cannot figure out if the speaker is pertaining to that “kiss” as a kiss from him or another person. The word choice for “a kiss” implies that the kiss could have come from anyone because the speaker would have used “my kiss” if he wanted to show possession. The vagueness of this line adds to the air of mystery and melancholy of the poem.
Pablo Neruda uses his undoubtedly phenomenal skill to create a literary piece of work that makes the readers think profoundly. The use of metaphorical statements to mask the true emotion of the poem, and the honesty or the lack of it is what makes his poem truly remarkable.
However, in every relationship, one needs consistency. We can glorify our loved ones so much, justify their actions through metaphors and beautiful words, but the truth shall be eventually unmasked and we will feel the gnawing misery and longing for our lover’s emotional presence. Soon enough, their silence becomes uninviting that we do not want to fall quiet with it anymore.
Philippine Cinema: A Capitalist-driven Industry
Philippine cinema as a culture industry suppresses the growth of the local film. The Philippine cinema was a flourishing industry in the 1950s with the likes of Ishmael Bernal, Lino Brocka, Gerardo de Leon gracing the screens with their talent and expertise. However, with the idea of capitalism, most producers and directors create a film with the intention of financial success instead of creating a story with genuine substance. The artistry in film is lost amid all the money-making business. In connection with this, using Adorno and Horkheimer's Culture Industry, this paper will tackle capitalism in Philippine Cinema by discussing the commercialization in films through the excessive use of product placements, formulaic storylines, and domination of three of the biggest entertainment firms in the country.
The Philippine film industry has been utilized to become a subliminal method of communication to market commercial products. Product placements, used by companies to subtly promote their products, are now often incorporated in our local mainstream films. For instance, films such as Now that I have You (starring Bea Alonzo and John Lloyd Cruz), which promoted Chowking and Jollibee (SME Toolkit), and the award-winning Madrasta, (starring Sharon Cuneta) where Volvo, a famous car brand, is heavily featured (SME Toolkit). Indeed, product placement can be useful to filmmakers in subsidizing movie production costs.
More recently, the 2014 Metro Manila Film Festival My Little Bossingsreceived a lot of criticism for its excessive product placements. It was described as “a family comedy that capitalized on top-billing the biggest celebrities of the country” and “a 100-minute long advertisement masquerading as a film” (Marasigan). My Little Bossings squandered the chance by using its screen time “to steal its audience’s money and peddle its advertisers” (Marasigan). Product advertising is heavily flaunted at the expense of the narrative. In the middle of the film, Bimby and Ryzza Mae appear to look like product themselves using their desperate performance as a means to sell. This results in a “worst kind of show business” where the advertisement is given more importance than the story itself (Marasigan).
The entertainment and commercial aspects of a film are currently trending in the local film industry (Garcia and Masigan), which results in repetitive formulaic storylines. Several Filipino movies are mass-produced like Mano Po, Shake, Rattle and Roll, and Enteng Kabisote which are now on their 7th, 15th, and 10th installment respectively. The reluctance of producers in risk-taking results to a tried and tested conventional movie plot that would surely hit the box office (Philnews). According to Adorno and Horkheimer, repetition is an important aspect as to why the capitalist film industry succeeds in manufacturing box office films (Welty). Standardization of films come from the need of consumers themselves that is why minimal resistance is received and that whatever is supplied to them is easily acquired (Adorno and Horkheimer). This is problematic because, as Adorno suggests, a repetitive process under late capitalism can hinder independent thinking through the continued usage of formulaic storylines.
Filmmakers, therefore, take their cue from commercial films released in the past that have already enjoyed public support and patronage. If a producer makes less money, he will have to rely more on commercial plot and character formulas than on quality concepts. Entertainment is the deceptive means in which man, who seeks rest and release from his environment, immerses himself (Adorno and Horkheimer). As a form of escape, he prefers to indulge himself in a movie with a light plot rather than a socially relevant film which makes room for thinking.
To add to that, there is an evident dominance of very few big production companies in our local film industry. According to Horkheimer and Adorno, power is only achieved when capitalist corporations control the means of production (Welty). In the Philippines, the companies Regal, Viva, and Star Cinema dominate the film industry by producing films with formulaic storylines targeted at the masses who will easily consume them, resulting to films that would certainly hit the box office. These companies are the most powerful entertainment firms in the industry, and following Horkheimer and Adorno’s argument, they produce the mass culture. Their proliferation of formula films has thus become the weekly main fare on the big screens.
In the Philippine, star system is practiced where popular actors star in films. “Kahit maganda ang storya, may aral, pero di sikat ang artista, 'di kikita ang pelikula,” said Enrico Santos, head of the concept development group and new media for ABS-CBN Film Productions Inc (Flores). That is why aside from the formulaic storylines, we also have an all-star cast formula – filmmakers tend to bank on stars who they see can guarantee their films commercial success, regardless of the film’s quality, and more importantly on the public’s fanaticism. Actors and actresses such as Kris Aquino, John Lloyd Cruz, and Vic Sotto, and love teams such as JaDine, Kathniel spell out blockbuster (and consequently, money), and that is seemingly enough reason to cast them for roles. Corporations are quick to identify influential people and capitalize on their impact. “At the end of the day, it's all about money,” said Santos (Flores).
Films are not the only source of entertainment but they are also reflective of a nation. However, if producers and filmmakers continue to create commercial films with only the intention of selling and not telling a substantial plot, what would be left of the local film industry? Will the Filipino audience continue to succumb to whatever is offered to them by the industry? Or will there come a time that Philippine cinema will finally rise to the occasion?
Works Cited:
Adorno, Theodor, and Max Horkheimer "The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception." Dialectic of Enlightenment. 1944. 94-136. Web. 02 Dec. 2016.
Flores, Karen. "Why the PH Movie Industry Is Dying." ABS-CBN News. N.p., 02 Mar. 2012. Web. 03 Dec. 2016.
Garcia, Leonardo, and Carmelita Masigan. "An In-depth Study on the Film Industry In the Philippines." Philippine Institute for Development Studies. 2. 17 Aug. 2001. Web. 04 Dec. 2016
"Is the Curtain Finally Falling on the Philippine Movie Industry?" Philnews. N.p., 2005 Web. 05 Dec. 2016.
Marasigan, Zig. "'My Little Bossings': The Horrible Business of Show Business." Rappler.N.p., 01 Jan. 2014. Web. 05 Dec. 2016.
"Marketing Your Product through Subliminal Method of Communication!" SME Toolkit Philippines. N.p., 2016. Web. 03 Dec. 2016.
Welty, Gordon. "Theodor Adorno and the Culture Industry" (1984)." Wright State University.
N.p., 30 Mar. 1984. Web. 03 Dec. 2016.
An Analysis of the Lack of Media Coverage regarding Minority Groups in the Philippines using the Agenda-Setting and Framing Theories
The lack of media coverage on the minority groups in the Philippines creates a lack of diversity, which in turn creates indifference within the mainstream public. Philippine news media has long been problematic – from misleading headlines to journalists accused of plagiarism, there comes little progress to alleviate the predicaments that keep on impeding the growth and development of local news. The characters that play part in it become significant in downplaying the intellectual capacity and understanding of viewers on certain issues. These characters serve as distractions to the real issue, but because they are influential, their character succeeds in disrupting the ongoing national discourse therefore strongly, if not, completely concealing true reality.
While a group fanatically obsesses over clichéd love teams and unfunny comedians, unbeknownst to them are the adversities faced by certain minority groups in the hopes of fighting for what their justice. In this light, using the Agenda-Setting theory and Framing theory respectively, this paper will tackle the lack of media coverage and its effects by delving into two minority groups, namely but not limited to, farmers and indigenous peoples, and how this such occurrence is detrimental to the intellectual and understanding capacity of people as it promulgates indifference and unawareness within the mainstream audience regarding social issues.
Indigenous peoples account to 14-17 million, comprising about 15.5% of the total population of the Philippines (UNDP). To say the least, the Philippines is a country with diverse cultures. However, ironically enough, that said diversity is not reflected in the media, but rather celebrities are the talk of the town and government officials with exposés grace the front pages accompanied with sensationalistic headlines. More often than not, the only time we hear about indigenous peoples in the media is when they catch the attention of our eyes as in the case of “Carrot Man” and “Badjao Girl”, or worse when they are being harassed and killed by the very government that leads them.
Last year, the Mindanao Region was again shaken by news that military and paramilitary groups were targeting Lumads in tribal villages and schools, stripping them of their human rights, and eventually killing them (Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility, 2015). As if all of these atrocities are not enough, a 14-year old Manobo girl filed for a rape charge against three soldiers, and true enough, the military confirmed that the three servicemen were indeed part of the military, but the arraignment was dropped after the girl was paid an amount of 63,000 pesos (Manlupig).
Yet, the media frames the Mindanao Region as a place ruined by a war that propagates and practices the idea of violence. While this is true to some extent, the media forgot to tell the other side of the story. Forget the innocent girl whose life would forever be damaged because she was raped by military soldiers. Forget the tribal leaders and educators of Alternative Learning Center for Agricultural and Livelihood Development (Alcadev), a school established in the far-flung area of Mindanao, who were killed because of their explicit support in the defense of the ancestral lands of the Lumads (Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights). Forget the 300 children who were forced to take their classes inside an evacuation center because military groups have seized their schools (Crismundo). Forget all of them because it seems like the most important thing for the media is that AlDub broke the Guinness World Record for the most number of tweets (Ligunas, 2016), and how many celebrities choose to take the MRT (Abando, 2016).
While fanatics celebrate such “feats”, the Lumads in Mindanao are crying for help but are silenced because the media refuses to talk about them. Applying the theory of Agenda-Setting, the media agenda and the public agenda have been brought in close to one another, that is to say, that what the media deems important and what the masses deem important have gotten similar and identical (McCombs & Shaw). And so when people are constantly being fed with superficial information, society itself becomes superficial. Such insubstantial piece of news becomes the reality, which, in turn, drastically shapes the national arena.
Farmers undoubtedly play a fundamental role in shaping a country. They plant and harvest the people’s food, the most basic human necessity needed to sustain life. As of 2014, the Agricultural sector in the Philippines accounts for the 10% Gross Domestic Product of the country’s economy (CountrySTAT Philippines). Yet, they appear to be one of the most underappreciated, maltreated, and poverty-stricken sector in the country, so when farmers protest against the government, it would not be much of a surprise - no matter how ironic the situation may sound. However, the most appalling and disturbing thing is that the people who benefit from the labor of these farmers are the ones who kill them (Lacorte, Magbanua, and Manlupig). The farmers who humbly supply the country with food are framed as rebels and antagonists.
Earlier this year, farmers organized a demonstration in different areas of North Cotabato demanding the 15,000 sacks of rice that were promised to them by the local government (Rappler). What would have been a peaceful protest turned into a massacre – it left three farmers dead and more than a hundred injured (Interaksyon). Philippine Star published two news reports that seem to frame the farmers from a negative perspective by using only the local government official’s accounts as a source for the news. Not once did the reports mention any information coming from the side of the victims.
The first report stated, “There was no need for peasant groups to have blocked major highways to air their grievances as they could have gone to the provincial capitol to seek relief interventions, the local government of North Cotabato said Saturday” (Unson). Immediately, readers are instilled with the fact that farmers were regarded as “peasant groups”. The choice of vocabulary is a clear testament of how the local government belittles the role of farmers in the country.
Another news article published by the same newspaper uses the same tactic to negatively frame the farmers regarding the Kidapawan massacre. One article reports, “Malacañang believes that militant groups had infiltrated the ranks of the farmers in Kidapawan City as part of anti- government propaganda” (Felipe). Again, this article only highlights statements from the government and dismisses any sentiments coming from the farmers. It generalizes that the demonstration of the farmers was intended to serve as an “anti-government propaganda” just because one of them is a member of the New People’s Army. They set aside the fact that the protest was held because the farmers were asking for the relief goods promised to them, and the sheer hunger the farmers were experiencing due to the drought that was affecting their crops (Manlupig, Lacorte, Magbanua).
Such occurrences can be related to the Framing Theory in mass communication. “The major premise of framing theory is that an issue can be viewed from a variety of perspectives and be construed as having implications for multiple values or considerations. Framing refers to the process by which people develop a particular conceptualization of an issue or reorient their thinking about an issue” (Chong and Druckman). Applying the Framing Theory in the context of the Kidapawan Massacre through the aforementioned news articles, one can deduce that farmers were intentionally framed in such a way that the public would negatively view them.
With numerous varied stories and reports floating around, media precisely picks the most prominent and important stories to broadcast to the public. In effect, the masses are given the news that is also what they deem to be prominent and important. Media shapes the public’s thoughts on what is important. It is also important, however, that different kinds of people tend to react to the news that media feeds them, much like any being would react in a certain way to a certain type of stimuli.
The mass media force attention to certain issues. They build up public images of political figures. They are constantly presenting objects suggesting what individuals in the mass should think about, know about, and have feelings about. I would like to mention the questions raised by Katrina Santiago, an opinion columnist, regarding the mass media today. “Choices are made, and it’s important to see how or why most choices are such. Why are certain stories scary and others aren’t? Why do certain angles to a story dominate the news and others are silenced?” (Santiago).
WORKS CITED
"(Updated) ALCADEV Exec.Director, 2 Lumads Killed by AFP Units and Paramilitary Group; Community Members Forced to Evacuate." KARAPATAN Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights. N.p., 7 Sept. 2015. Web. 11 Oct. 2016.
"1 Killed, 13 Wounded in Farmers' Protest in Kidapawan." Rappler. N.p., 1 Apr. 2016. Web. 11 Oct. 2016.
Abando, Paulyn. "Celebs Take Public Rides." Manila Bulletin. N.p., 17 May 2016. Web. 11 Oct. 2016.
Chong, Dennis, and James N. Druckman. "Framing Theory." Annual Reviews 10 (2007): 103-26. Web. 11 Oct. 2016.
Crismundo, Mike. "300 Lumad Children to Start Classes at Evacuation Center." Manila Bulletin. N.p., 12 June 2016. Web. 11 Oct. 2016.
"Fast Facts: Indigenous Peoples in the Philippines." UNDP in Philippines. United Nations Development Programme, 24 July 2013. Web. 11 Oct. 2016.
Felipe, Cecille Suerte. "PNP Finalizing Raps vs Kidapawan Protesters." Philstar Global. The Philippine Star, 4 Apr. 2016. Web. 11 Oct. 2016.
Ligunas, Meryl. "AlDub Recognized by Guinness World Records as Record-breaker in Twitter's 10-year History." GMA. GMA Network Inc., 22 Mar. 2016. Web. 11 Oct. 2016.
"LUMAD CRISIS | UN Experts Urge Independent Probe into Atrocities." Interaksyon. N.p., 23 Sept. 2015. Web. 11 Oct. 2016.
"Lumad Killings: Who’s Responsible?" Center for Media Freedom and Reponsibility. N.p., 30 Sept. 2015. Web. 11 Oct. 2016.
Manlupig, Karlos, Germelina Lacorte, and Williamor Magbanua. "Cops, Farmers Clash in Kidapawan; 2 Dead." Inquirer.net. N.p., 2 Apr. 2016. Web. 11 Oct. 2016.
Manlupig, Karlos. "TIMELINE: Attacks on the Lumad of Mindanao." Rappler. N.p., 16 Sept. 2015. Web. 11 Oct. 2016.
McCombs, Maxwell E., and Donald L. Shaw. "The Agenda-Setting Function of Mass Media." The Public Opinion Quarterly 36.2 (1972): 176-87. Web. 11 Oct. 2016.
"Philippine Agriculture In Figures, 2014." CountrySTAT Philippines. Philippine Statistics Authority, 2014. Web. 11 Oct. 2016.
Santiago, Katrina S. Personal communication. 5 Oct. 2016.
Unson, John. "North Cotabato Exec: Farmers Could Have Opted for Dialogue." Philstar Global. The Philippine Star, 2 Apr. 2016. Web. 11 Oct. 2016.