As they say, the past is past.  There is no bringing it  back.  The past ebbs away so fast one is hard put to recapture long gone images and  dig out buried memories.  There are too many things to do in the present and no  time to catch up with a swiftly fading past.

During a one-week sojourn in Europe last September 8-14,  the present caught up with the past suddenly and magically.

It all began when Marivic Raquiza, graduate student in the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague, learned that Janet Carandang of the Social Watch Secretariat and I were going to Europe.  We were going to Berlin for a big policy development meeting and to the Netherlands for meetings with international NGOs. Marivic suggested that we visit Filipino students in The Hague and update them on developments in the Philippines.

Of course, the students didn’t have money to put Janet and me in a proper hotel.  I did not want to use Social Watch money either.  Marivic’s dormitory room was too small for three Filipinas and two big suitcases. So, she wheedled doctoral student Marlon  Transpadillo into swapping his larger room with her for the duration of our stay.  For four days, Marlon stayed in Marivic’s room   while we took over his room.  I slept in Marlon’s bed  while Marivic and Janet shared a mattress on the floor.  We used his spare bedsheets and clean towels and nibbled away at  his store of biscuits and cookies.  And drank his wine. Typical graduate student arrangement.  Typical Filipino. 

When among students, do as the students do.  We cooked our food and brought baon for our meetings with the international NGOs.  We also travelled by tram, bus and train.  And walked till I dropped. Whoever heard of students taking taxis?

For the meeting with the other Filipino students, we gathered in the largest dormitory room. Students squeezed in wherever there was space. As expected, the discussion was lively and vibrant.  Typical graduate student discussion.  Proposed theses topics ranged from local government public enterprises, planning and budgeting in the Philippines, and homosexuality in the NPA with the catchy title, “Comrades and lovers in arms”.  Yes, Danton!

So there we were, Marivic, Janet and I.  We were walking to the tram stop for an appointment.  We stopped by the Institute of Social Studies.  Then it happened.  Suddenly, I felt I was back in Leeds University in England where I took up graduate studies.  I remembered the long walks to the campus.  I recalled huffing and puffing after buses and trains. And walking under trees shedding their leaves.  And admiring the last blooms of summer before they would disappear with the autumn winds.

We were cooking and eating in the dormitory kitchen in The Hague.  Forty years fell back and I was once more in the dormitory kitchen of Leeds University, trying to cook  adobo for dormitory mates from different countries.

Everything else came back.  The free meals from macho classmates who were horrified with the idea of the only girl in class paying for her food.  The lectures and debates with our professors.  The long nights of endless reading.  The struggles over the required paper.  The tortuous days of review for the comprehensive examinations.   Topping the class.

The heady days of student power all came back in a rush.  Collecting posters of Che Guevara.  All night concerts of revolutionary songs. Freedom marches. Crossing over from England to France to hobnob with university students in Paris who created the 60’s version of the Paris Commune.

It has been more than forty years since I squeezed myself  in a university room with several other people, cooked terrible food, and ran after buses.  It has been decades since I sat in a crowded dormitory room while arguing and dreaming  with fellow graduate students about what we would do for our countries once we finished our studies.

Thank you Marivic and Marlon  for four wonderful days when the present magically caught up with the past.

Crafting the alternative budget, 2009

Today, the Alternative Budget Initiative convened by Social Watch Philippines will continue the presentation of proposed budgets for MDG-related goals to the members of the initiative. Last Friday, they had a lively discussions on the macro-economic assumptions of the budget and the alternative budget for agriculture.  Today, the proposals for education, health, environment and state universities and colleges will be tackled.  Also in attendance will be partner/legislators.  The Friday session had Congressman TG Guingona and his technical staff, as well as the technical staff of  Congressman Ronaldo Zamora, Senator Loren Legarda, and Senator Mar Roxas.  The staffs of Senators Ping Lacson,   Alan Cayetano and Pia Cayetano were there. 

Sorry. There were no fireworks among the original partner legislators of Social Watch/ABI. They are all bound by a common advocacy: an alternative budget for the MDGs.