Wednesday, November 1, 2017

Dr. Antonio Contreras--a scholar or an pseudo-ideologue? DLSU should act wisely

I once taught at Dela Salle University. I was given three subjects, one of them Philippine history, under Prof. Hila. Back then, Hila was taking his PhD at UST. I enjoyed my stint there, not only because they pay more, but they give professors the honor and respect they deserve.

I was trained by my UP professors, especially eminent professors like Dr. Zeus Salazar, Dr. Felipe Miranda, Dr. Jaime Veneracion, Dr. Maria Serena Diokno, Dr. Guerrero and Dr. Rey Ileto to share my knowledge, and rarely, my political beliefs.

As a scholar, my responsibility is to provide the information and some analyses, yet allow my publics to decide for themselves what to believe, and what theories to use in analyzing society.

I am proud to say that until now, their teachings remain etched in my heart.

Admittedly, I simply don't know who Dr. Antonio Contreras is. I don't even read him. When I perused the internet yesterday to find out who this guy is, I formed the impression that he is interested in forest management more than politics. Or, he tries to form a correlation between the dynamics of politics with forest management and conservation.

He's supposed to have a wide following online but when I checked, his blog does not even have a page rank. Why the interests in him?

I then discovered why---Dr. Contreras is a staunch supporter of Federalism. He also signed several impeachment complaints. He was once a co-host of DWIZ Karambola and still writes at the Manila Times as a columnist. RJ Nieto, whom I met several years ago, says that Dr. Contreras was allowed to "fade away" by "resigning." Contreras was not fired, contrary to what the good professor alleged.

And RJ Nieto gave several damming facts that surrounded or attended Contreras' departure from the Karambola show.

Whatever the truth is, Dr. Contreras must redeem his reputation. RJ Nieto gave a telling narrative which trained an unflattering light to the professor.

Contreras, according to RJ Nieto, is a publicity or attention grabber. Or hugger, to be precise. Contreras wants all attention to him, which, according to RJ Nieto, gave a very bad impression of him from his other Karambola hosts, including Conrad Banal of Inquirer.

I supposed Dr. Contreras is first and foremost, a scholar. Yet, what his former political allies picture him to be is a pseudo-ideologue.

For me, this gives a very bad rep to DLSU.

DLSU is for me, one of the most respected academic institutions in the Philippines. Having a pseudo-ideologue in its faculty roster is somewhat an unfortunate situation.





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