Ricafrente, Karl Ernest N.

April 29, 2022

G12-04HSS Mr. Remson P. De Leoz

REFLECTIVE ESSAYS

Topic 1: Bullying

Bullying, in all of its forms, has been an emerging issue that many children deal
with on a daily basis at school away from their parents' guidance and protection. In recent
years, it has become a global phenomenon with a significant impact on the educational
system, as it unquestionably affects the life of students. This issue becomes a more
serious problem for the parents, teachers, and school administrators as it affects not only
the victims but also the society we belong to. It is saddening to think that it always
happens inside an institution where students should feel safe and secure. It is an act of
harassing someone by using different forms of violence in order to force the victim to do
what the bully wants to or merely just for fun. It comes from different forms such as
physical, verbal and cyber bullying which are very common in this technological age. The
advancement of technology has a huge impact on how this became more prominent in
our society. As our education sector discourages this kind of act and imposes different
punishments, still it is an emerging issue that needs attention and immediate intervention
coming from our educational sectors.

Before this topic has been discussed by the reporters, I already have an idea about
bullying and how it affects the lives of not only the students but also the people living in
our society. I learned this issue through witnessing it first hand and hearing stories coming
from my friends and classmates. Through what I have heard and seen, I defined bullying
as a sinful act that uses physical, verbal and non-verbal abuse to harm an individual.
Bullying seems to be more common in younger generations, mostly in elementary and
high school. I am glad that starting from a very young age I was surrounded by people
with good attitudes and morals. But still this does not mean that I never felt that I am being
bullied or I never became a bully. I think everyone can agree that at some point in our
lives we experienced both or either of the two. For me, bullying should never be
acceptable and normalized in our society, specifically in the school environment. Schools
should be a safe place for students to express themselves without fear, apprehension
and the feeling of being judged. The damage that this could cause to the victims can
change their lives forever. Let us not wait for it to get worse and will lead to an end of
someone’s life. Some people may speak up and do the right thing but let us also think of
those who chose to be silent, neglected and forgotten by the system. Having a law
regarding this issue creates an opportunity for everyone to lessen and eventually
eliminate this in every child’s environment.

Trends, Networks and Critical Thinking in the 21st Century 1

 Being bullied is something that will remain in our minds forever. For this issue to
come to an end, we must first acknowledge and identify the presence of it in an
environment as well as students’ attitudes towards it. I am grateful that Republic Act
10627: The Anti-Bullying Act Of 2013 was signed into law. It helped schools to implement
proper policies within its institution. It also helped the victim to recover from what
happened and disciplinary sanctions for the bully. I have so much empathy for those who
have experienced this because I cannot imagine how hard they went through and how
they dealt with it.

Topic 2: Health Care System

Getting sick and being hospitalized are the worst nightmare that every Filipino does
not want to happen in their lifetime. Not only does it require rest which means no work but
certainly it requires a lot of money. Being hospitalized is not the problem because
sometimes it is inevitable, the real problem is the money for medical expenses needed
and the quality of health care. At some point, the Philippines was once named as “The
Sick Man of Asia.” While other citizens are begging for a free and quality healthcare
system, many are wondering why we are still being deprived of quality health care. This
is still an ongoing problem in our country because not everyone has access to health care
itself.

The sad reality is that the majority of Filipinos are living in the poverty line. This
alarming issue proves that third world countries like the Philippines are being deprived of
basic necessities including health care. It is saddening to think that our government
allocates fundings in solving crimes, tourism, and raising the salary of military and
policemen but does not prioritize health as well as our medical practitioners. January of
2020, The P15 Billion peso was said to be corrupted by Philhealth, an agency responsible
for securing the health of every Filipino. This issue creates overwhelming feedback from
the people. Many citizens were angry at how this huge amount of money was lost from
the funds. This could have saved and helped a lot of those people who are earning
minimum wage and cannot afford to be hospitalized. Many places in the Philippines,
especially in rural areas, do not have any access to health care. They need to walk for
many hours just to go to the nearest health centers. They do not have technologies that
we are using here in highly urbanized areas. Many of them died without having proper
medications ang proper treatments. This got worse as our healthcare system dropped
because of Covid-19. We came to the point where thousands of people a day were being
infected by the virus, there was a lack of resources like bedrooms, PPEs, and oxygen
tanks in the hospitals. This was also the reason why many of our nurses quit their jobs
because they were overworked and underpaid.

Health care should not be a debate between groups of people because we deserve
to have quality health care for all. Truly, it is very much important but continuously ignored
by our government. During this pandemic, I realized that our country does not prioritize
healthcare as much as other developing countries do. We are also at risk of losing
professionals that will provide medical care. It is so heartbreaking seeing nurses and

Trends, Networks and Critical Thinking in the 21st Century 2

doctors sacrifice their own life just to serve people. I hope that this pandemic serves us
an enlightenment that our health care is at risk. Filipinos deserve a leader that will
prioritize our healthcare system above anything else. I am hoping that in the near future,
no one will beg for free and quality health care, no one will die without having proper
treatments, and no one will worry about the money they need for their hospitalization and
medicine. Filipinos deserve better.

Topic 3: Climate Change, Global Warming & Environmental Degradation

During this time and era, climate change, global warming & environmental
degradation has been a huge problem across the globe. These environmental crises
affect the lives of different living organisms present on Earth, including us humans. We've
been experiencing this phenomenon for decades and decades. As time passed by, it
became worse than ever before. There is a rapid increase in Earth’s temperature that
causes icebergs to melt and results in rising sea levels. Many scientists,
environmentalists and activists have been fighting for our environment but there is little to
no effort coming from us and also from the government. We are rapidly approaching a
point where even planting more trees would not save this planet. These issues are timely
and relevant as these are being highly talked about in different social media platforms.
There are ongoing petitions from different groups and organizations to save our planet
from these threats. These problems must be addressed collectively, or mankind will miss
the chance to save it from its end.

On the 6th of April, 2022, NASA scientists protested in front of Chase Bank building
in Los Angeles, California. This movement became an awareness that this problem is no
longer just a problem of our scientists but everyone living on Earth. They were trying to
warn us for decades but we are giving no attention at all. Here in the Philippines, we are
now experiencing these phenomena and still worsening aggressively. Lately, we can feel
that there are changes in climate that result in high temperature and we already
experienced strong typhoons that are very unusual considering the month and the season
we have right now. I am now sure that we humans have a huge impact on what is
happening to our environment. In order to live, we depend on what our environment can
give and offer to us. One of the reasons why this happened is because of overpopulation.
As the population grows, the demand for resources coming from our nature also
increases. We are the ones who are abusing it and destroying it only for our own good.
We take advantage of these resources to the point that they can no longer meet the
demand of everyone present on Earth. The Philippines’ rich biodiversity is at risk mainly
because of human activities such as illegal mining, deforestation and dynamite fishing.
These immoral acts resulted in mass extinction, loss of habitats, floods, and landslides.
Now that we have an ongoing environmental crisis, our government should strengthen its
laws regarding these issues. We have so many laws but because of corruption, bribery
and neglect, there is only little effort coming from them.

Trends, Networks and Critical Thinking in the 21st Century 3

 I know that these issues are no longer new to us. People from different groups
have been fighting for decades. Scientists warn us that we only have three to five years
to act and lessen the crisis we have right now. Imagine what will happen to the future of
younger generations if we fail to save this planet within three to five years? If we do not
follow what the professionals have said, we are going to lose hope for a better future. We
should not wait for others to act on these because today is the only right time for us to
take action and save our planet. Let us plant more trees, use recyclable materials, stop
human activities that can destroy the environment, etc. I also believe that electing
government officials that have a platform regarding these issues can really help to create
solutions to these problems. I hope through our collective efforts to fight and save our
planet, eventually we can eradicate its threats and we can live in a happy and healthy
environment.

Topic 4: Graft and Corruption

Centuries up until the present, graft and corruption are still the main problem within
the government system. It is among the world's most trending issues, ahead of extreme
poverty, unemployment, rising food and energy prices, climate change, and terrorism.
Graft and corruption exist in all forms of government. Starting from barangay level to the
highest level within the Philippines. These issues are considered as the greatest obstacle
in the development of every country as it buries nations in debt. We are still considered
as part of the third world country due to massive corruption within institutions. These are
the root causes why there is still poverty, hunger, unemployment, and weak political
development in the nation.

Graft and corruption are the two of many problems that we are experiencing as
Filipinos. It is no surprise for us to see news reports and articles about issues like
politicians, high ranking officials, and even government agencies that stole money from
the funds. The most infamous case of graft and corruption here in the Philippines is the
misuse of the Priority Development Assistant Funds also known as the “pork barrel” scam.
From this case, I thought Filipinos were going to learn and let the government be held
accountable for it but it turned the other way around. Still, many Filipinos elected the same
people who are involved in this case. Politicians like Bong Revilla, Jinggoy Estrada, Juan
Ponce Enrile, Imelda Marcos, etc. These are the same people governing our country.
While the citizens are doing all their best to earn money, there are people like them who
are getting richer and richer because of the ill-gotten wealth. As this issue worsens over
time, many Filipinos remain in poverty. Also because of this, our economy, healthcare
and tourism suffer. Written in the 1987 Philippine Constitution, the Republic Act no. 3019
which is the “Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practice Act” that any public officer or private person
who commits any of the unlawful acts or omissions shall be punished by imprisonment.
This law was written for those who commit this crime. But in my opinion, this law was not
implemented properly. The people who committed this kind of crime can easily get away
with it using their money.

Trends, Networks and Critical Thinking in the 21st Century 4

 In order to change the system, we must do our part as Filipinos to hold these
Politicians accountable to everything that they do in our country. Accountability and
transparency within the government and its officials is the key for us to exterminate this
in the system. We should not normalize this kind of act because everyone is suffering
from this. We must choose and vote for a leader that will and can possibly stop graft and
corruption. Think critically about the backgrounds of every politician running for a position
in the government. We should not vote for someone who has cases of graft and
corruption, plunder and fraud. Always be a smart citizen of our country.

Topic 5: Gender Inequality

In recent years, the issue regarding gender inequality has gotten a lot of attention
and became a hot debate in academics, business sector and politics. Despite sliding eight
spots to 16th place, the Philippines remains the most gender-equal country in South-East
Asia, according to Investing in Women's report summary in 2018. For generations,
women as well as members of LGBTQIA+ has and continuously received unfair treatment
from the society. There is still stereotyping and prejudice in terms of what these genders
can do, what they can offer and their capabilities to lead institutions like business and
government. People think that they are weak and do not have the ability like what the
dominant gender can do. Violence against them is still very rampant in our society. This
proves that this remains a huge problem in our country. They experience abuses like
physical, sexual, and verbal within their homes, community they live in, and workplace.
Although we have laws that protect and secure the rights of every woman and LGBTQIA+
in the Philippines, still we cannot hide the fact that these are not firm enough to fight for
every gender experiencing inequalities.

Being a Catholic country, many of our gender inequalities rooted way back during
the colonization of Spaniards. The way of living of pre-colonial Filipinos changed because
of these countries including Spain. As they brought Catholicism in our country, everything
has changed from the way we live, our culture and traditions and the roles of each gender
in the Philippines. Women in the pre-colonial era had almost equal rights as men. They
both can get divorce and equally divide the properties. Regardless of gender, female
children were valued equally to male children, owing to the fact that they understood the
importance of women. In the case of LGBTQIA+ community, we have the babaylans
which are the shamans of animistic religion. They served as healers and they are highly
respected spiritual leaders. However, during the introduction in the Philippines of
Christianity and Islam, it resulted in the discrimination of these spiritual leaders.

In the modern age, women and LGBTQIA+ are mostly targeted by society merely
because of their gender. Many of them experienced discrimination and unequal rights.
There are news, pictures and videos posted in social media which depict that some of
them are getting abused and mocked. The issue about Gretchen Diez, a transgender that
was arrested after being blocked from using women’s restroom in Cubao became an open
minder to all Filipinos that this is still a huge problem that we need to work on as a nation
to achieve equality to all. Honestly, before this issue blew up, I had little knowledge about

Trends, Networks and Critical Thinking in the 21st Century 5

gender preferences, identity, and expression. I had barely known about the SOGIE Bill.
As we talked about in school and read articles about this, I learned that this bill not only
protects the rights of LGBTQIA+ community but also every gender present in the
Philippines. It prevents discrimination against people regardless of their gender identity.
However, civil union is not a part of it. Hopefully, someday our brothers and sisters can
have an equal in marriage as other couples do.

Gradually, society has changed how it views the social beliefs and attitudes about
sexuality, gender identity, and expression. We are now open for different discussions
about this issue and what possible solutions that we can do to educate younger and older
generations. Like what I have said from my previous reflective essays, we should vote for
someone who will fight for the rights of not only a specific gender but also the ones being
deprived of equal rights.

Trends, Networks and Critical Thinking in the 21st Century 6