We are tasked to make a reflective essay about the chosen lesson we want to discuss in our blog and the lesson I’ve chosen is Globalization. The lesson we have discussed and the readings given to us about Globalization has a great impact to me because the topics discussed is somehow connected not on just to my experience, but also to everyone’s experiences. Globalization, according to the reading given to us, is a process involving the interconnections, diffusion, and exchange of goods, services, ideas, and people. One way or another, we are affected by globalization. May it be from the things you like, the stuff you use, our government, or even your economic status. Us, Senior High students are products of globalization. One of the reasons for K-12 being implemented here in the Philippines is because we need to step up our education system to catch up with everyone around the globe having more than 12 years for primary and secondary education. Another reason for doing the K-12 program is to give us the skills of whatever track we chosen for us to be globally competitive to everyone. The DepEd even added the Technical and Vocational track for those who want to have vocational skills and to work after Senior High School.

 In my opinion, I think the reason why K-12 is being implemented is not because of being in-par with the world’s educational system, but to be cheap labor to the MNCs. Even from the start, DepEd always emphasize that every graduate of K-12 will be job ready. They even give emphasis to TechVoc track to those who want to work after graduation. They are also emphasizing that after K-12, we will have the skills to be globally competitive but the reality is they are preparing us to be cheap labors to globalization. There is a part of me that still agrees with K-12 and part of me that doesn’t agree with it. I don’t agree with it because as I’ve said, they are not training us to be globally competitive but to be cheap laborers. There is a part of me that agrees with K-12 because it has a potential to uplift our educational system. As someone who is experiencing K-12, I am somewhat thankful to the knowledge I’ve gained to the K-12 program because it is focused on the track I’ve chosen and it is preparation for me to pursue my tertiary education. K-12 has a potential if it is not too focused on promoting one aspect, but it should also focus on different tracks and aspects and also being a lifelong learner since learning will be forever part of our lives.

Another product of globalization here in the Philippines are the OFWs. The OFWs are part of the network created by International Labor Migration where people move to another place to work. The OFW topic has a soft spot in me since my dad started working abroad when I entered my primary education and most of my relatives works or already lives abroad. The Filipinos chose to work overseas because of the vast opportunities they can have. I can’t blame the OFWs if they are given the opportunity to work abroad because the money overseas valued much more if converted here. They don’t mind the money but what push them to grab the opportunity is the comfortable living they can give to their families. They love their families so much that they would sacrifice anything just to give them comfortable lives without minding the consequences. Personally, I have experience the consequence of ILM. There is somewhat a rearrangement of roles when my dad decided to work abroad. My mom became the mom and the dad at the same time. She became a mother to us by taking care of us and doing anything a mother would do, and at the same time, she became a father to us by also working and deciding things for us. During the first 3 years of my primary school the modern technology is not that utilized yet so as a result I don’t have a father figure by my side because he is working abroad. He would only go home every other year and would stay for 1 month here in the Philippines. As time goes by, technology rapidly advances that even if my dad is overseas, he can be a father to us, we build a virtual home for us to be connected even if he is far. I am somehow to the modern technology since we can utilize it to lessen the distance we have to our family across the globe.

Globalization has affected not only my life but also everyone’s life. Everyone has an interesting story to tell on how Globalization affected their lives. Globalization has a good and bad points. Its good point is that it makes the big world smaller to us, it opened up different ideas and opportunities for us. The bad point of globalization is that what connected us is our interest which may also affect others. I just wish that as globalization evolved as time goes by, it will be focused on being sustainable than achieving everyone's own interest

Pan’s Labyrinth or El Laberinto del Fauno in Spanish is a 2006 dark fantasy drama film which was written and directed by Guillermo del Toro. Esperanto Filmoj and Warner Bros are the producers and responsible for the international distribution of the film. While Picturehouse holds the US rights distribution of the film.

The film started with a narration about a fairy tale story of a princess of the underworld name Moanna who is curious of the human world and decided to visit it. But the sunlight blinded her and erased her memory. Because of this, she became a mortal and dies. Her father become anguish of what happened to her but he is still hopeful that she will return. Because of this, he made a labyrinth which will serve as a portal for her return.

The film was set during the post-civil war Spain in 1944 and the story started with Ofelia, together with her pregnant mother and assistants travels to the mountain to live with her mother’s current husband, Captain Vidal. As they stop for a little rest in the forest, Ofelia saw a large stick insect which leads her to one of the labyrinths. Because of Ofelia’s interest in fairy tale books, she believes that the stick insect is a fairy. Later that night, the stick insect visits her in her room and turned in to a fairy. The fairy leads her to the labyrinth and there she meets the faun.

The faun believes that Ofelia was a reincarnation of Princess Moanna, the princess of the underworld. The faun gives Ofelia a book which will help her to complete the three tasks to achieve immortality. While this is happening, Vidal murders 2 farmers who Vidal suspiciously thought as a rebel but they are not really rebels. Ofelia’s first task was to get the key from the giant toad’s belly living inside the fig tree in the forest. Ofelia successfully accomplished this task.

Ofelia’s mother condition worsened as time goes by because of her pregnancy. Ofelia becomes worried with her mother’s condition which prevents her from accomplishing the second task. As a solution, the faun gave a mandrake root to Ofelia and instructs her to put it in a bowl of milk and put it under her mother’s bed. The faun instructs Ofelia to feed the mandrake root by giving it blood from her fingers. As soon as Ofelia did this, her mother’s condition has improved.

Knowing that her mother’s condition improved, Ofelia proceed to do the second task. Her second task was to take a dagger from the lair of scary Pale Man who eats children. She was accompanied by the three fairies given to her by the faun. The faun instructs her not to eat anything from the Pale Man’s Lair. She disobeyed the instruction of the faun by eating two grapes from the lair which awakened the Pale Man. The Pale Man eats two of the fairies and chases Ofelia. Ofelia manages to escape the Pale Man. The faun visits Ofelia after to know if she did the task. The faun was glad at first knowing that she achieved it but was angry when he knew about Ofelia’s disobedience to his instruction. Because of his anger, the faun didn’t give the third task to Ofelia.

Vidal and his team goes around the mountain to catch the rebels and they captured one in order for it to be interrogated and tortured. Vidal calls Doctor Ferreiro in order to tend the tortured captive. Vidal didn’t know that Dr. Ferreiro was also a rebel. Dr. Ferreiro euthanized his fellow rebel in order for it to no longer suffer. Vidal suddenly knew that Dr. Ferreiro is a rebel because the antibiotics that they got from the mountains is the same as what Dr. Ferreiro is using. After knowing this, Vidal killed Dr. Ferreiro.

After killing him, Vidal visits Ofelia’s mother and saw Ofelia under her mother’s bed together with the mandrake root. Disgusted with the smell of the mandrake root in a bowl of milk, he was about to discipline Ofelia but her mother insist that she will talk to her alone. She talks to Ofelia that because of her constant reading of fairy tale books, it corrupts her mind. Ofelia’s mother insists that magic does not exist and threw the mandrake root in to the fire. As soon as her mother threw the root, she collapses in pain which resulted in painful labor. Her mother does not survive the labor but the baby does.

Knowing that Vidal is killing the rebels, Mercedes, a rebel and a spy, decided to escape. She drops by to Ofelia to say good bye but Ofelia begged her to bring her with her. Ofelia and Mercedes attempted to escape during the rainy night but was caught by Vidal and his men.

Ofelia was locked up in a room while Mercedes was brought to the store room to be tortured. Mercedes escaped by using the knife she always hides to untie the rope and stabbed Vidal. Vidal survived the wounds that Mercedes inflicted to her and ordered his men to take her to him. As Mercedes escaped, she was being chased by Vidal’s army. As soon as Mercedes was about to be caught, the rebels killed Vidal’s men to rescue Mercedes.

In a locked room, the faun visited Ofelia to give her another chance to accomplish the last task. The last task is to bring his baby brother to the labyrinth. She successfully got her brother but she was being chased by Vidal. She met the faun at the entrance of the labyrinth and she was told that in order to open the portal, the blood of the innocent was needed. The faun suggested to drop few drops of blood from his brother but Ofelia refuses. The faun refuses to help her further because she can’t accomplish this.

When Vidal arrived at the labyrinth, he saw Ofelia talking to someone but no one was there. Vidal immediately takes the baby and shoots Ofelia. When he is about to leave the labyrinth with his child, he is cornered by the rebels together with Mercedes. Knowing that he can’t escaped and he will be killed, he gives his son to Mercedes. He instructed Mercedes to tell his son when he grew up about him and his time of death. Mercedes told him that his son will not know him when he grows up. Mercedes’ brother shoots Vidal which leads him to his death.

Mercedes enters the labyrinth and saw the dying Ofelia. She comforts Ofelia before she died. Drops of her from fall down to the altar which serves as a portal for Princess Moanna. As soon as Ofelia loss consciousness, she then appears in a golden throne room and was welcomed by the king of the underworld. The king told Ofelia that she is successful to the last task because she chooses to spill her own blood rather than his brother. The faun also appeared in the throne room and addressed her as “Her Majesty”. In the real world, Ofelia was seen smiling as she dies.

Although the film is categorized as magic realism, the film for me symbolizes as Ofelia’s escape to the harsh reality that is happening around her. Ofelia was forcefully brought up to an environment where war is happening.  The faun and his tasks serve as Ofelia’s distraction to what is happening around her. We can link the story to those children who is affected by the war that is happening to some parts of the globe. The most affected by the war are the children because at an early age, their innocence are tainted by the war and at an early age, they have to be forcefully think and act beyond their age because they don’t have the time to act as children because the environment is not suited for the children to play around and enjoy. The children are also forcefully having to accept that the world is harsh and they have to cope up with it. It is a good thing that Ofelia has a way for her to escape the reality that is happening but most of the children who is a victim of war doesn’t have anything to escape the reality, they have to accept it.

At first, the film have a positive and innocent vibe in it since the protagonist of the story is a little girl who has to escape reality with the help of a magical creature, but as the story progress, it becomes a little bit gory and dark which shocked me a little bit.  I realized that innocence is what builds our childhood and it is what made us enjoy it. The only concern I have with the film is that the characters are one dimensional. The characters stay the same throughout the story. There is no character growth especially with Ofelia. One example I can give which shows Ofelia being one dimensional is when her mother dies. She showed remorse when her mother dies but it doesn’t build her as a protagonist. The film is already good but it would be better if Ofelia showed a character growth.

Last February 12-15, 2018, the UST Simbahayan Community Development Office held its annual Pistang Tomasino trade fair with their partner communities. It was held at the Quadricentennial Square.

The event was held annually in order to showcase the works and products of the community partners of Simbahayan. Aside from partner communities, Simbahayan also invited non-government organizations to participate in the fair.

Many Tomasino, as well as faculty and staff went to the fair to support and patronize the products of our partner community. It is good to see that many Tomasino went to the fair to see the works of USTs partner community.

With its colorful banderitas, fiesta background music, and fiesta vibe, the event really has this festival feels! 

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Many partner communities showcase their skill with either their crafts, gardening, or making and processing foods. The partner communities sell crops, accessories with a theme of their culture, or food.  

There are many things to choose from the fair, but I chose to buy three bracelets and I also bought food in the event. 

I bought my two bracelets at the same partner community. The name of the organization is COWHED which stands for Cooperative of Women in Health and Development and they are from Lake Sebu in South Cotabato. They are a cooperative which helps women to make a living and also helps them take care of their health. They sell keychains, bracelets, earrings, rings, coin purse, and pouches. The one who makes the accessories are the T’boli tribe so most of the accessories has a touch of their culture. 

The first bracelet

The second bracelet

The beads that is used in the two bracelet I bought is made of wood. It doesn’t have much design, it is very simple. The first bracelet has an alternate pattern in putting the beads. The long beads are put in dark and light color pattern. While the second bracelet is purely made of light colored long beads. What I like with these bracelets is that they are very simple and minimalist but somehow it has a cultural touch. 

She Works -- Made in Hope

The next bracelet I bought is from She Works – Made in Hope, a non-government organization which helps those women who experienced human trafficking. Most of the things they sell are bracelets which is made by those women who experience human trafficking and abuse. The organization helps those women by engaging them in various projects in order to help them and they also train them to develop leadership skills in order for those women to be an advocate against human trafficking. They also sell necklace and earrings but I like bracelets more so I chose to buy one.

The design is also very simple and minimalist, it has three colored beads — red, yellow, and green. What I love about the bracelet is every color represents a sharing about human trafficking and its information. The red represents that we should stop human trafficking at all cost. Red also defines what human trafficking is. Human trafficking is recruiting, transporting, or transferring someone without the victim’s consent or knowledge. And in return, those in control of the victim receives more than the victim themselves.

Yellow represents the effects and warning signs of human trafficking. The sign of a person being a victim is that they don’t have much freedom to themselves. They are being controlled, manipulated, and exploited. The color yellow also represents the impacts of human trafficking physical, emotional, and social to its victims. The physical effect is that most victims are abused and sexually assaulted leaving their bodies with injuries. Its emotional effect is that the victim will have PTSD which will result in being depressed and being agitated. Its social effect is the victim will most likely experience shame, isolation, re-victimization, in an extreme case, this may lead to suicide.

Green represents that we should do something about human trafficking. We should support its victims by fighting for their rights, working with lawmakers to change and create laws about trafficking, and helping them by volunteering to organizations who helps those victims

The next thing I bought is champorado. I forgot to ask what organization they are from but they are from Kalinga province. All I can remember is that they are a tribe in Kalinga and they are selling their crops and processed foods. Their most popular product is the cooked champorado. I was curious because many students I can see roaming around the fair is eating champorado. I can see my friends going back and forth to the stall to buy champorado so I decided to also buy because maybe there is something about that champorado that people are going back to buy it. The flavor of the champorado is different from a plain champorado. Aside from its milky flavor because of the evaporated milk, its rice has this sweet flavor to it and it is organic. The milky flavor of evaporated milk, the chocolaty flavor of cocoa, and the sweet flavor of the rice complement each other maybe that is why many people bought it.

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In my opinion, bracelets with simple and minimalistic design will be a trend because people nowadays want something that is simple but it stands out. Not only they showcase their skills in art craft, but they also promote and advocate something which encourages the people to buy and support them. Food that is organic will also be a trend because people nowadays are conscious with their health and they want something that is healthy and natural.

After the fair, I realize that we should support the partner communities because it is their way of showing their livelihood and by because of our support to them, they are making a living. It is a good thing that UST is not just helping them on their needs, but also the University is doing something to help them stand on their own. I hope UST will showcase more partner communities and it will grow bigger next time so that everyone will have a chance to showcase their skills and livelihood to everyone.