The Academic Oval

In the sprawling campus of the University of the Philippines, one can find the famous academic oval. This academic oval was witness to a lot of historical events in the country. The acacia trees that line it have been planted since the fifties, so you can say that the trees are probably as old as the campus itself.

The oval is used by different folks, for different purposes. Motorists use it for---what else---motoring. Athletes use it in running. Activists use it for their protest marches. And the colleges use it for the Lantern Parade.

For those who have been stuck in Diliman for ten years or more (like me), the Academic Oval is probably as familiar as the back of your hand. But the oval, ladies and gentlemen, is slowly changing, and not for the better.

Try walking around the oval now, while drinking a bottle of water, or munching on some junk food. When your bottle becomes empty, you of course search for a place to throw your trash in. You start looking for those maroon-and-green concrete trash bins that line the oval. But then you realize that the trash bins are not there anymore. The trash bins have disappeared.

The oval is changing. First, they changed the traffic flow to one-way. Then they took out the trash bins. Someone said that they might also take away those concrete maroon benches (the ones labelled "Luis D. Beltran"). And someone else mentioned that they might build a Starbucks somewhere in the Lagoon.

Centennial my ass. One hundred years of UP is not going the way it's supposed to be.