OF course, we can find true freedom only in Christ. He said so in very explicit terms. “If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (Jn 8,31-32).

We have to remember that freedom is not something that we ourselves created and give to ourselves. It is first of all a gift from God, and as such it can only be properly exercised when referred to God’s will and ways, as shown and shared with us by Christ himself, the God-made-man to offer us “the way, the truth and the life” proper to us.

We have to be most guarded against our strong tendency to regard freedom as something purely at the instance of our own will alone. For our freedom to be true freedom, or freedom in the truth, our will has to conform with the will of God.

Here, we can already see how important it is to know, love and live that will of God, regardless of how difficult that duty involves. We have to understand that the exercise of freedom should be always an occasion to be with God. Otherwise, we would at best have a fake kind of freedom.

We need to understand this truth of our faith well, because nowadays it is very easy to be confused about where to find freedom and how freedom should be. That’s because all sorts of ideas promoted by all kinds of ideologies and spread by powerful groups have been flooding the world since time immemorial.

Nowadays, freedom is mainly understood as the power to do whatever a person or a group would like to do. It is purely a subjective freedom, based only on one’s conception of it or on the consensus of a certain group.

There is also the erroneous idea that freedom is anything that gives one some pleasure, some convenience, some advantage, etc. Again it is an idea of freedom that is self-oriented, not other-oriented which is how it should be, since freedom is a matter of loving, and loving is self-giving, not self-serving.

Because of these confusing if not erroneous ideas, the sacrifices involved in loving the way Christ has loved us—Christ who is the standard of love and freedom—turn off many people who cannot accept the freedom offered to us by Christ. After all, Christ himself said that if we want to follow him, we have to deny ourselves and carry the cross. (cfr. Mt 16,24)
We need to promote the real freedom that is offered to us by Christ. We have to preach about it, in season and out of season, and explain it thoroughly, using arguments that are adapted to the different mentalities and cultures of the people.

Our problem in this regard is usually that of being ineffective in our preaching because we use complex or subtle arguments, examples, etc., that are above people’s head. This is not to mention the fact that many times people find inconsistency in what we preach and in what we do. We often do not walk the talk.

How important, therefore, it is to have a clear idea of the relationship between God and freedom, and between freedom and love. Given our very confusing times, when the distinction between truth and falsehood, good and evil, moral and immoral is blurred, it’s very urgent that we get hold of this distinction, if we wish to be on the right track in our life!

There are just three community college in Eastern Visayas, the Abuyog Community College, Collegio de Las Navas and the Burauen Community College. In the present year Eastern Visayas Region with Leyte Island, Samar Island and Biliran Island the region tops the country in terms of official enrollment. The figure reaches 1.1 Million for the basic education and the Tertiary Education . The three Community Colleges accounts for at least 12 thousand students spread across different programs with Bachelor of Science Criminology as the first choice.

Collegio de Las Navas is at Las Navas Northern Samar and Abuyog and Burauen are in the Leyte Province. Abuyog whose establishment goes back to the 1977 Bagong Lipunan era is the oldest and Burauen who is operating on its 3rd year is the youngest.

This writer is on its 6th month as a College Administrator in one of this Community College and it was obvious that the Community College is unique and an unusual persona from the mold of the State Universities and Colleges and the Private Schools in the region.
Regulatory Realities.

For one, the Abuyog Community College is regulated by the Commission on Higher Education as an Institution for Higher Learning, the Policies, Standards and Guidelines of the CHED is mandatory for us. Further, since we also offer Senior High School we are also subject to the regulation and monitoring from the Department of Education and Offering Short Term Courses on Vocational Courses we are also Monitored and Regulated by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority. We answer to these agencies and make everything at par to the standards mandated by the legal entities.
Funding Sources

The Funds comes from the Local Government Units and effectively internal control and financial requirements are mandated by the stringent Local Government Units and expenses are monitored and audited by the Commission on Audit and the LGU. With Community Colleges under UNIFAST Assistance the good thing is the same is put on Trust for some Community College and the others are embedded in the General Funds of the LGU.
(To be Continued )

The dangers of the toxic materials that plastics transfer to our food when used as containers are very real. It may not cause immediate adverse effects, but we are all victims of some sort of food poisoning every time we use plastic for our food. The concern raised in keeping these non-biodegradable materials from the bowels of the earth may have some basis. But just how can government stop the use of plastic from dirtying our environment is a big question.

We are again brought into a weird unrealistic idea that is clearly no more than mere sloganeering. In order to protect the environment, government has brought the idea of discouraging people from utilizing plastics that are not organic and contaminate the environment. We are all aware of the hazards that plastics bring not only to the environment but to human health as well.

While people are using plastic as part of daily life, it is hard to reorient their ways into non-plastic habits. The use of the material has found wide acceptance that it has eliminated the biodegradable materials. Where before, papers were used as wrappers for many items, we now seldom see people using paper for such simple purposes. The convenience of using plastic has caught the mindset of people that they no longer think of the ill effects that plastics bring to the environment. But the concern is really more on the improper disposal of garbage that ruins our environment.

In efforts to minimize if not eliminate the use of plastics, local government units are passing local legislations that ban commercial establishments and supermarkets from using plastics and encouraging customers to bring their own biodegradable bags as plastics are only allowed for wet products.

But if plastics are hazardous to life, by all means government must take appropriate measures to protect the people. It is very impractical to focus the drive on the end-user. The suggestion to cut the problem at the root cause is always the best option. Efforts should be made to stop its production if the material is hazardous.

Making a campaign that discourages end users is deemed ineffective. It speaks of something that is being done for the sake of doing something. If government is serious in saving and protecting the environment, it should set its attention on stopping the problem at the source, otherwise, all these brouhaha are mere acts of plasticity.
comments to alellema@yahoo.com