x

Letter from the UP Student Regent: It's not about the money money money

IN REPLY TO:

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/65017/abad-tells-activists-more-funds-won%E2%80%99t-do

Students took to the streets last week to protest the education crisis, not merely the budget cuts. If money were the only factor necessary to ensure quality education, UP would outpace all other state colleges and universities ten times over. UP (inclusive of PGH budget P5.54 billion, with RLIP P6.6 billion) would be doing mathematical differentials while the Philippine State College of Aeronautics (P70,062) and Marikina Polytechnic College (P67,043) are still learning addition.

Why does government find it hard to engage the claim of activists that the education crisis stems from factors, and gives rise to issues beyond education spending? One of the most simple correlations we’ve raised is this:
 

1. Underfunding of education – Quality education is influenced by the quality of teachers, the quality of infrastructure and equipment, and ultimately, the quality of the students. This is where underfunding matters most; Secretary Butch Abad should know this by now. Teachers need to feed themselves, the school buildings have to stay up, the laboratories need to be well-stocked, and the students have to pay jeep and train fares to get to school. This is exacerbated by inequitable funding.
 

2. Inequitable funding – Government makes so many distinctions: first between basic and tertiary education, and then among state colleges and universities. What is clear is that education is being funded disproportionately. This results in distinct differences between the quality of education in each school, leading to commercialization of education.
 

3. Commercialization of education – Education is a treated like a commodity, hawked like property. In such sense, thus it must conform to the demands of the times. This is why we have the perennial debate between private and public control over education, but in either domain, there is a lack of framework for our educational system.
 

4. Lack of educational framework for education – We have no substantial goals nor sound philosophy for our education. The Long Term Higher Education Development Plan aims to “diffuse knowledge in the relevant and responsive to the dynamically changing domestic and international environment.” It is, mildly put, reactionary. The government has no vision for this country; we lack a national industrialization framework.
 

5. Lack of national industrialization framework for the country – We have no specific growth goals for our country which is backward and semi-feudal. Are we going to be a production-based country? Agricultural? Manufacturing? Services? A mix of all?
 

True, there are many inefficiencies lodged in running our schools, like when we print ten excess test papers, or when we hire two fresh graduates when what we need is one with an MA. Our school administrators try their best to minimize all of these; this is why UP President Alfredo Pascual espouses “operational excellence” along with academic excellence. But we balk when our esteemed academic and administrative heads are compelled to be political lackeys – so they can secure sufficient funds from the Department of Budget and Management, Congress, and the President; and especially, assure the timely release of the funds. (Note: Over nine years, the unreleased appropriations for UP reached P6.19 billion.)

It is easy to say that the 10,000 students who missed classes last week were noisy and pesky brats; even easier to call them lousy students and flunkies. Focus on your studies, says Abigail Valte rather rashly. Ms Valte probably lived with parents and learned from teachers who measured intelligence by the book. For these kinds of people, memorizing Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo would be the best measure of nationalism. It is as if, had we really studied, we would never have noticed how injudicious the system is. Our progressive education and our society are training us for lifelong learning, and how we wish President Noynoy Aquino, Secretary Abad and Ms Valte were prepared as well.

Defend public education and health care! Fight for greater state subsidy to social services!


Krissy Conti
UP Student Regent
krissy.conti@gmail.com
09165435216

 

MARTSA PARA SA EDUKASYON NG BIKOLANONG KABATAAN
by Vin Ce
 

Kumikilos na din ang mga kabataan sa rehiyong bikol laban sa pagkakaltas ng badyet sa edukasyon ng pamahalan.September 23,2011 ng umaga, Sa ilalim ng init ng araw at sabay sa Bicol University Week nagmarsta para sa edukasyon ang mga kabataang estudyante sa loob ng Bicol University na isa sa pinakamalaking unibersidad sa Bikol. Kasabay na nagmartsa ang miyembro ng University Student Council, Universitarian (Official Publication of BU),Socratic Circle,Anakbayan at ilan pang mga kabataan.

Ang kilos protesta ng mga kabataan ay umpisa lamang sa serye ng linguhang kilos protesta hanggang hindi pinapakinggan ng pamahalaan ang panawagan at karapatan ng mga kabataan. Batay sa saligang batas ang edukasyon ang dapat na nilalagyan ng badyet ng pamahalaan hindi ang pambayad utang at para sa militar.

Kasabay ng pag martsa ng kabataan sa Legazpi City, mayroon din ginawang protesta ang kabataang estudyante sa Camarines Norte State College, nagkaroon ng signature campaign, radio hopping at iba pang porma ng protesta laban sa pagkakaltas ng badyet sa edukasyon.

Ayon sa pagaaral, binawasan ng mahigit P569.8milyon ang badyet sa edukasyon ng mahigit 50 pambansang paaralan. Paghahati-hatian ang badyet na ito ng halos 220 State Colleges and Universities na sa ngayon ay patuloy ang pagdami ng estudyanteng gustong makapagaral ng libre at may kalidad. Na sa ngayon matindi ang pagtaas ng bayarin at matrikula sa mga pribadong kolehiyo kung kaya’t dapat sanang gawan ng paraan ng pamahalaan na maibigay sa mga kabataang estudyante ang libreng edukasyon.

Sa kabikolan mayroong 8 malalaking State Colleges and Universities na umaasa sa subsidyo ng pamahalaan, ito ay ang Camarines Norte State College, Partido State College, Bicol University, Central Bicol State University of Agriculture, Emilio B. Espinosa Sr. Memorial State College, Sorsogon State College, Camarines Sur Polytechnic College at Catanduanes State College bukod pa dito ang mga satellite campuses na kung babawasan ang badyet humigit kumulang 100 thousand estudyante ang maaapektuhan.

Tuloy ang laban ng mga kabataan laban sa Budget cut.
EDUCATION BUDGET: dagdagan huwag bawasan!

Vince Casilihan
Spokesperson
Karapatan-bikol

BUDGET CUTS. .......
by Vin Ce

sa EDUKASYON

inalis mo ng lahat sa amin
badget sa edukasyon ganun din
ano ang gagawin mo sa amin
sobra sobrang pahirap ba gagawin?

kabataan ang pag-asa ng bayan
baka ang mangyari'y
kabataan ay aasa sa bayan
ano ang kakahinatnan?

humuhugos sa lansangan mga kabataan
imbes na sila ay nasa paaralan
yan ba ang gusto ng pamahalaan
maghiyawan at lumaban ang kabataan sa pamahalaan?

ayon sa malacanang
kabataan dapat nasa silid aralan
sino ba ang dahilan
kundi kayong nasa malacanang.

walang aasahan mga kabataan
kundi pagkakaisa lamang
kaya tuloy tuloy lang ang laban
upang tayo ay mapakingan.

guro at mga estudyante
nagkakaisa sa isang derehe
kayat huwag tayong pagagapi
yan ang ating silbi.

nagsipaglabasan mga kabataan
mula luzon,visayas at ka mindanawan
upang ipanawagan
tangi nilang kahilingan.

kasibasiban ng mga trapo
kahit alam nilang ito ay diretso
karapatan ay ipinagkait
sa masang sobra sobra ang hapis.

sa HUDIKATURA

HINDI nagiisa mga kabataan
sa budget cut na pinagdadaanan
maging mga huwes at kawani sa korte
sila rin ay kinaltasan.

saan ba inilalaan
mga pagbabawas ng pamahalan
mahirap maintindihan
kung sa kapritso lang ito ilalaan.

paano na kung mangyari ang pagbabawas
sa budget sa hudikaturang nakalaan
baka mas lalong dumami ang
nasa kulunganang walang kasalanan.

kabataan ay di pala nagiisa,
sa bawas mode ni pnoy sa masa
serbisyo sosyal kinaltasan din
paano na basic services sa atin?

Doleout na tulong bina badyetan
marahil dito madali ang nakawan
di na maaacount ang mga binigyan
sure na sure kita mula sa kaban ng bayan.

Streetwise
By Carol Pagaduan-Araullo

Protests are good

The protracted global economic depression is sending the economies of even advanced capitalist countries such as the United States and members of the European Union on a tailspin. Despite fits of financial convulsions due to the bursting of economic bubbles and now EU countries threatening to default on their sovereign debts if not bailed out, most official quarters still minimize the extent and depth of the crisis of global capitalism.

But the average person-on-the-street in the perennially underdeveloped countries of Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East as well as the most advanced capitalist countries in the West knows from experience that this global economic depression is for real.

It is making life harder and harder even for the touted “middle class”. Worse it is unclear how or when the crisis will end and how or if the people’s situation will improve.

All over the world, what is becoming exceedingly clear for a growing number of working people and their families – wage workers, salaried employees and the bourgeoning underclass of unemployed, under-employed and self-employed individuals trying to scrape together a living – is that they are being made to unfairly bear the burden of this crisis.

And they are fighting back. They are demanding changes that mean something to them and are not mere empty promises.

In this country, students, teachers and school officials are marching in the streets to decry budget cuts for state colleges and universities. Health care workers are up in arms over slashed budgets of public hospitals and public health programs.

They denounce the Aquino government’s budget priorities: debt servicing, conditional cash transfers aka dole-outs and military outlays that go down the drain of corruption and failed counter-insurgency programs.

They reject the privatization and commercialization of basic social services such as education, health care and housing and public utilities such as water, electricity and public transport.

Militant transport workers, in particular jeepney drivers and operators, along with the riding public have staged protests and strikes to dramatize their opposition to run away oil prices. They attribute this to the foreign and domestic oil cartel and speculators in the oil futures market manipulating the oil price and raking in super profits, together with the oil deregulation law and the national government’s “hands-off” policy even as it collects windfall value-added-tax on higher oil prices.

The protesters are demanding the scrapping of deregulation policies, centralized government procurement of crude oil to take advantage of the cheapest prices, the scrapping of VAT on oil and for the government to take the commanding heights of developing a sustainable and people-oriented energy policy that is free from foreign domination and control.

Workers are on a warpath against the policy of contractualization that is ravaging their jobs, security of tenure, wages and benefits leading to labor being at the complete mercy of capital. They are calling for the implementation of the twin policies of land reform and national industrialization to optimize the utilization of the country’s natural and human resources and to create jobs and livelihoods for the army of unemployed and underemployed, especially the youth.

Homeless people living in shanty colonies in urban centers are resisting spontaneously against violent demolitions of their make-do residences only to be literally thrown into the streets. They reject so-called government cum private development projects which exclude them but instead cater to commercial and financial big business interests.

 

In the US, there have been work stoppages and mass protests over lay-offs, budget cuts, withdrawal of entitlements and subsidies both in the public and private sectors. Migrant workers and other immigrants have denounced job discrimination, police racial profiling and severe restrictions as well as harassment from immigration authorities.

Fed-up ordinary Americans are staging an ongoing “Occupy Wall Street” campaign wherein hundreds if not thousands of people have been conducting a daily sit-in protest at the heart of the financial district in New York City, pointing their fingers at the behemoths of finance capital for their economic dislocation and immiseration.

Greece, Spain, France and Italy have witnessed hordes of their people pouring out into the streets to reject government austerity measures after the public coffers have been emptied in bail-outs for the banks and other financial institutions and other failed neo-liberal policies as well as profligacy of their ruling elites. They are also demanding jobs and social justice against the corporate elite and their political backers who continue to control the highest levers of power.

In North Africa and the Middle East, the political upheavals that have removed or are trying to depose entrenched authoritarian regimes continue. The workers and youth in Egypt, for example, will not settle for the mere removal of their previous ruler, Mubarak, but are calling for his trial and those of his cohorts to account for their crimes against the people.

They reject the military’s hold on power and demand greater political representation of ordinary people in decision-making. They call for an end to failed policies that have only managed to deepen their people’s impoverishment and misery and the backwardness and stagnation of their economy. They vigorously call the US to account for backing the Mubarak regime and its policy of rapprochement with the Zionists in Israel.

Sooner than expected, the real objectives of US-NATO in invading Libya are revealed. For one, Libya is being turned into their newest field of investment (read: dumping ground of surplus capital), with the IMF-World Bank "asked" to "rehabilitate" the Libyan economy using the billions of dollars the Libyan government has invested in foreign banks, and to repair its infrastructure damaged by the US-NATO bombings.

All these developments are rooted in the inability of the global capitalist system to fully recover from the global economic crisis triggered by the financial meltdown in 2007-08. The continuing and intensifying paroxysms in the very centers of capital belie all claims that the world economy has recovered or is on the way to recovery.

This is not at all surprising since none of the neoliberal policies that have brought about the crisis has been reversed. Measures have not been put in place for regulating transactions in financial derivative long identified as one of the major culprits that brought about the meltdown. Worse, the US and European governments, invariably beholden to and directed by finance capital, continue to conspire to this day in diverting public funds meant for housing, education and other basic social services to rescue the latter.

Corporate media and bourgeois propaganda may have succeeded for some time in conjuring the illusion of recovery and brighter times ahead, the reality of continuing joblessness, rising prices and loss of social security inevitably catches up and bursts whatever bubble of false hope remains.

Thus while it can be argued that the people’s protests are long overdue and still need to gain strength and momentum, these have so far been the only forces that have mitigated the greed and avarice of the big capitalists and their agents in the bureaucracies.

In the medium and long run, they are bound to grow and gain more strength as the crisis worsens and the hardships become more intolerable worldwide. #

Published in Business World
30 Sept - 1 October 2011

x

The Right to Strike!
by KABATAAN PARTYLIST on Monday, September 26, 2011 at 5:53pm
Privilege Speech of Kabataan Party-list Rep. Raymond 'Mong' Palatino
Delivered on September 26, 2011 at the House of Representatives

Mr. Speaker I rise to defend the right of our youth to participate in political activities. Last Saturday, Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte urged the students to focus on their studies instead of participating in rallies. The remark was issued a day after the successful staging of a nationwide strike of students, teachers, school officials and members of concerned sectors who forged a strong unity to defend of our State Universities and Colleges (SUCs). The strike was organized for three reasons: 1) To protest the budget cuts and insufficient funding for our state schools; 2) To demand the realignment of the budget bill so that more funds can be used for the expansion and improvement of public higher education; 3) To urge the Aquino government to review its higher education policy.

Instead of belittling last Friday’s protest action, Malacanang should properly address the demands presented by the students. Instead of discouraging the youth to actively engage our political leaders, Malacanang should welcome the participation of young people in politics.

Ms. Valte and other Malacanang propagandists should not underestimate the students who joined the strike. They might be surprised to discover that the strikers are among the most committed scholars of our schools. The students must be commended for finding time and sacrificing so that they can link arms with other iskolars ng bayan in collectively asserting their legitimate demands to the government. They skipped classes not because they are abandoning schooling but because they wanted better education. They marched on the streets not because they are school delinquents but because they wanted to remind the government that its policies on education and funding priorities are forcing many young people to drop out from schools. It is precisely out of supreme dedication to learning that motivated the students to organize the strike.

Malacanang should know better that students are capable of performing well in schools while taking an active role in campus and even national politics. To speak and act decisively on various social and political issues are among the important duties of our young citizens. These are part of the youth’s learning development; these are essential components of citizen education in a democratic society.

Valte and the other propagandists seem to forget that from time to time, Malacanang itself is organizing public assemblies and even rallies where student participation is often made a school requirement. The President himself has been very consistent in his appeal for active youth participation in the public affairs. In a recent speech, the president even reminisced about his involvement in the student movement during the Martial Law years.

It is wrong for student activists to organize rallies but it becomes acceptable if approved by Malacanang? Public assemblies and rallies are not beneficial to society but they become an integral component of citizenship if endorsed by Malacanang? Our elders did the right thing when they marched on the streets in their youth, but students today are irresponsible if they skip classes to attend protest actions?

Encouraging the youth to study better isn’t wrong. What is unacceptable is the refusal to recognize that the youth become better educated if they are also immersed in the social and political affairs of the country. We need more student strikers, not less.

Malacanang shouldn’t limit the capacity of young people to perform great political actions. It shouldn’t reduce youth political engagement into wearing of yellow ribbons and posting comments on the President’s social network pages. Young people today, like the earlier generations, are willing and capable of creating history.

Last week’s strike was something we should have anticipated. We cannot reduce the funds for social services without provoking the anger of our citizens. We cannot impose budget cuts and allocate insufficient funds for social services without generating public unrest.

Mr. Speaker, distinguished colleagues, we live in dire times. Domestically and globally, budget cuts, price hikes, continuous rights violations and social strife continue to inspire countless young people to rely on the collective wisdom and power of the oppressed to build a better and more humane, progressive society.

Youths all over the world are up in arms. Youth and student riots in London, Chile, Spain, Madagascar, Columbia, Germany, Malaysia and elsewhere in the world are testament to how volatile the present global economic crisis is. Youths 17-25 years old are jobless, students are protesting against budget cuts and tuition and price increases. The whole world is in debt.

The Philippines is not an exception. Our conditions are not different, if worse, from other countries. And as in other countries, the youth and student movement is undeniably a moving force in the fight for substantial social reforms.

Indeed, the string of massive student protests that erupted during the past few months were only a logical response to the aggravating crisis brought about by the disarray in the current global economic order. Economies that once seemed unscathed are now experiencing economic recessions. In order to curb their impending decline, countries intensify their privatization, deregulation and liberalization schemes—the three essential components of the current dominant economic framework notoriously known as neoliberalism.

Malamang ay nagtataka rin kayo: Di hamak na mas mahirap na bansa ang Pilipinas kaysa mga bansang nabanggit ko, pero bakit hindi pa nagra-riot ang mga kabataan dito?

Mr. Speaker, distinguished colleagues, we have our youth and student movement to thank for. Kailangang maunawaan ng marami na mapagpasya pa rin ang organisasyon ng mga kabataang aktibista sa paghikayat na magkaroon ng pagkakaisa sa ating bansa. Kung ano ang mayroon tayo at wala ang iba – ito ang buong kilusang kabataan at estudyante na naninindigang hindi riots at hindi anarkiya ang sasagot sa krisis. Sa kabila ng lahat, namamayani ang disiplina at matibay na organisadong pagkilos ng ating mga kabataang aktibista. Sa ganitong diwa, dapat pa nga natin pasalamatan ang mga organisasyong tulad ng League of Filipino Students (LFS) at iba pang mga makabayang organisasyon ng kabataan na nakikibaka para sa mas magandang bukas para sa ating bayan.

The social policies of the Aquino administration, clear as clear can be, nourish the ground for critical dissent. What the Palace is telling our youth now is to be silent while their right to education and social services is continuously violated. Reports early today contain a statement from DBM Secretary Butch Abad saying that our youth should make do with insufficient funds for our public higher education. It is this kind of utter insensitivity of the Aquino administration that forces our youth and people to heighten the struggle for their basic rights.

More strikes, not less, will definitely rock the nation as the youth and people fight for their future.

Strike Two: UP Mindanao students slam PNoy admin’s second round of budget cuts

DAVAO CITY - Students from University of the Philippines (UP) - Mindanao staged a protest action at the campus in Mintal, simultaneously with the on-going strikes against budget cuts on social services in other parts of the country.

“The Aquino administration has turned a deaf ear once again to the voices of the people. With another round of budget cut in social services like education and health, the PNoy admin has shown its insincerity in addressing soci-economic problems of the country. Hindi tayo ang kanyang “BOSS”,” said Rendell Cagula, chairperson of the UP Mindanao University Student Council.

For the fiscal year 2012, the Aquino government allotted only P21.8 billion for the budget of 110 state colleges and universities in the country, lower than last year’s P22.03 billion.

Last year, students and other sectors nation-wide conducted strikes and protests against budget-cuts by the government. And with another round of budget - cuts this year, thousands and thousands of students are expected to join strikes.

 

“For Pres. Aquino to claim that his administration prioritizes education and other social services is a bitter pill to swallow. It is evident that his administration’s proposed national budget, will only increase the already swelling number of students dropping out or not enrolling to school so as a consequence to the continued slashes from subsidy to state universities and colleges on top of skyrocketing tuition fees,” said Cagula.

“The students and the people will continue to protest against the PNoy administration as it continues to implement anti-student and anti-people policies. We are being denied of our most basic rights to education and social services. And this is enough reason for more people to join us as we intensify our actions in the coming weeks,” stressed Cagula.###

For reference:
Krista Melgarejo
Chairperson, National Union of Students of the Philippines - Davao City Chapter
09393392075

Photo Credits: Kit Frias
--
National Union of Students of the Philippines

Davao City Chapter
Mobile: +639266453953
Email: nusp.dvo@gmail.com
Facebook: facebook.com/nusp.smr

x

League of Filipino Students
118-B Sct. Rallos Ext., Bgy Sacred Heart, Quezon City

PRESS RELEASE
September 26, 2011

Abad,'Valtermort' doing a Goebbels denying educ budget cuts

"Just like Goebbels."

This was how Terry Ridon, national chairperson of the League of Filipino Students described the continued denials of DBM Sec. Florencio Abad and Palace deputy spokesperson Abigail "Valtemort" Valte that the Aquino government never cut the budget of state college and universities.

Ridon likened the two Palace officials to the Nazi chief propagandist Joseph Goebbels who infamously said that if one tells a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it as the truth.

The militant student leaders said that no less than the 2012 General Appropriations proposal in the DBM Website shows that indeed the Aquino government had cut again cut the budget of state colleges and universities. (Photo-grabbed image attached)

"As far as we know that's lying through their teeth to merely score propaganda points. And we thought lying and cheating are among the things this government absolutely abhors."

Ridon promised more strikes in the coming days as the budget is deliberated in the Senate.

"Yes, Ms. Valtemort, the protests will continue. And yes, many of the students scored well in their pre-final exams despite the strikes."

Reference: Terry Ridon, 09155310725

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

September 25, 2011
PRESS RELEASE

Pauline Gidget Estella
CEGP National Deputy Secretary General
09069357722

‘Focus on providing affordable education,’ campus journalists tell Palace

A day after the historic protest action of more than 8,000 youth, the Malacanang, through Deputy Spokesperson Abigail Valte, still ignored the clamor of the thousands of students and instead told them to “focus on their studies” rather than walk out of their classes.

“After thousands of students marched from Diliman to Mendiola under the scorching sun, after the numerous unity marches and long string of creative activities, after the days of strike, this is what the government tells us? That we are simply misinformed? Valte’s remarks smack of arrogance and unwillingness to listen,” said Pauline Gidget Estella, deputy secretary general of College Editors Guild of the Philippines, the widest and longest-running alliance of student publications.

“Miss Valte, if you are asking us to focus on our studies, then we say that you should first focus on thinking twice with your statements. In the first place, how can we focus on our studies if many of us could no longer afford to study even in a state university? You are telling us to focus on our studies when the continuing trend of state neglect robs us of our right to education,” said Estella.

As student journalists and budding media practitioners, “we do not only verify facts, we also have the duty to analyze them, to flesh out the truth in the fact,” said Estella. “While Valte said that there is a 10.1 percent increase in the budget for state universities and colleges (SUCs), we know that the truth is that this 10 percent is comprised of conditional funds, and that they will not be released without complying with prerequisites set by the government,” she explained.

Estella added that if the government really prioritizes education, then it could realign the huge “confidential” and “intelligence” funds to social services, especially amid reports of corruption in the use of these funds.

“Students, employees, teachers and even school administrators are engaged in the fight for greater subsidy. Instead of listening and doing its job, the government dismisses the protests and tells us to focus on our studies because it could no longer sustain its deceptive explanations,” said Estella.
 

-----------------------------------

For Immediate Release

September 26, 2011

Aside from lying, the Aquino administration has also been consistently inconsistent -NUSP


‘LIARS’ and ‘consistently inconsistent’ is how, National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP) describes the recent slurry of media releases of the palace following the series of protests of State Universities and Colleges (SUCs)

The Aquino Government is relentless in its pursuit to discredit the massive protests of the students, faculty, administration, and staff of SUCs. This was the observation of NUSP to the recent statement of Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Butch Abad that the budget for SUCs has in face ‘increased’, providing ‘maximum budget for all agencies is unfeasible’, and that ‘more funds won’t do’.

“Firstly, we know that it is a lie that SUC budgets increased as it has been consistently declining since 2009, just look at your own proposals,” says NUSP President Einstein Recedes. He contends, “SUCs have consistently not been receiving Capital Outlay funding, for the case of UP the National Government even owes it at least Php Six Billion in unreleased funds”.

“Secondly, I believe it is downright dim-witted to claim that we demand maximum budget for everything. The SUC community is certainly not as dim-witted as Sec. Abad, we know that there are enough funds: how about your wife’s district, CCTs, the military, the intelligence funds, the Office of the President, and other Palace offices?,” adds Mr. Recedes

“Lastly, comparing UP with ADMU, DLSU, and UST in the QS is at best short-sighted and at worst misinformed,” says Mr. Recedes. He explains that UP and SUCs simply cannot be compared with these Private universities for the simple reason that they are privately owned and funded. Mr. Recedes brushed this propaganda and says, “This is yet another scheme of the DBM and the administration to veer away from the issue at hand.”

“They need to start doing their mandate and fund for SUC’s with a budget that is not just for subsistence but for development,” says Mr. Recedes, even quoting Executive Director Julito Vitriolo of the Commission on Higher Education.

Mr. Recedes also belies the claims of several palace apologists. “Aside from lying they have also been consistently inconsistent, they say that they listen but on the other hand discredit the demands of SUCs, clearly they are not willing to listen.”

He ends by exposing the entire character of the Aquino administration’s budget. “It is clear that the government continues not only to be oblivious but even aggravates to the crisis of the education sector and its anti-development and anti-people budget is a clear indication. Yes it’s not just about funding it’s about your government’s skewed priorities.” ###


Reference:
Vanessa faye Bolibol, NUSP Secretary-general, 09261703655
Rainier Sindayen, NUSP EdRes Officer, 09178897725

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PRESS RELEASE
25 September 2011

Palace officials are ingrates to People Power I & II

“Palace officials should closely review their history and party rhetoric when they call on students to just focus on studies rather than protest. They are ingrates to the memory of People Power I & II when they make such pronouncements.” Says Einstein Recedes, National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP) National President.

This statement from the NUSP President comes after Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte made the statement through the Philippine Daily Inquirer that students [should] “concentrate on their studies rather than [walk] out of their classrooms to protest supposed budget cuts for their institutions”.

“This is outright arrogance on the part of the government,” says Recedes. He adds, “How dare they use the memory of People Power to bolster their image while also demeaning and discrediting the protest of the students and SUCs.”

The student leader ended his statement with a wake-up call to palace officials, “I wish to remind you that were it not for protest actions–People Power being one such protest — you [Valte] and your boss [Aquino] would probably not even be there in the first place.”

Reference: Vanessa faye Bolibol, NUSP Secretary-General, 0926-1703655

x

POEMS ON THE BUDGET CUT

Chucks

Kung keri nga lamang,
bet kong magkapakpak
sa mga moment na binebeso
ng aspalto ang aking pisngi,
kinokyompal ng sapal ng juicy fruit
ang nahahagard kong fezlak,
binabalaj ng lubak itey sikmura,
chinachaka’t nilulunod ng ulap
ang buo kong ka-foahan.

Kung true nga lamang
na straight na ang mga daan,
gets ko, wiz na kailangang
ako ay sabunutan,
at times two
na buhulin ang buhok,
Isko. Iska.

At sa muling pagkasense ko sa inyo
ng imbey na budjey cut —
i-flying kick n’yo sa bato,
Agit Isidro ang ngalan
ng inyong mga araw,
at comatose na naman
ang haggardo versosa kong katawan.

But no, ‘wag kayong ma-afraid.
Waley man akong pakpak,
sa Cartimar man ako ipinanganak,
hanggang budjey na cheapaz
ang moda sa pisngi ng pisara,
katawan ng tubo, palad ng pabrika,
at sa pulso ng pagamutan—
mawawafaz akong nakayakap
sa inyong mga talampakan.
Sapagkat long march ninyo
ang sukat ng kahulugan
ng nirarugged kong pamumuhay.

For that,
joiner ako
lagpas sa arko
ng kapayapaan.

Tala sa ilang salita:

Agit Isidro- Agitated
Bet: Gusto o nais
Binabalaj: Binabalahura
Cheapaz: Cheap
Comatose- Ekspresyon para sa sobrang kapaguran
Hagardo Versosa: Haggard
Imbey: Nakaiinis
Fezlak: Mukha
Itey: Ito (ginamit bilang itong)
Ka-foahan: Mula sa foa o full of art
Keri: Ayos o ok lang
Kikonkyompal: Sinasampal
Mawawafaz: Masisira o mawawasak
Waley: wala



Vijae Orquia Alquisola
18 Agosto
Imus, Cavite