By Bikoy Villanueva

The banner headline of the Philippine Daily Inquirer today caught me off-guard. “GMA: No to Tuition Hike.” What a spin that was!

It was simply that, a press gimmick. What makes her statement entirely preposterous is that in the first place, it is her administration’s long standing policy to direct state colleges and universities (SUC’s) to tighten their belts and increase fees and other self-generating income procedures (Long Term Higher Education Development Plan 2010). It was also her administration’s directive policy to lift the tuition increase cap on private educational institutions, hence opening the floodgates of incessant increases in tuition across the country. It’s because of her why tuition and other fees have been increasing rampantly the past years.

And what purpose will this statement serve? It doesn’t make sense. Private and state universities have already increased tuition months and years ago. Various fee increases in state colleges and universities have already been implemented under her administration. Students have already been forced to pay their fees. Unless the President’s directive is retroactive, which it is apparently not, it’s an empty gimmick. Unless she orders for a tuition rollback, the directive is useless.

This Malacanang press release is simply a spin strategically scheduled a few weeks before the academic season begins. It was obviously another one of the President’s lip service propaganda offering empty promises to the youth in an attempt to water down brewing dissent among young Filipinos, especially in a juncture of our times where crises in energy, oil, food and education are happening all at the same time.

She knows that once the academic season begins and the millions of Filipino students reconvene in their colleges and universities, the student movement against her administration will once again gain strength. And she is indeed preparing for it by a blast of anti-militant propaganda, not least of which, aside from this “no to tuition hike” spin, is the Shooli TV advertisement running across TV stations urging everyone to start the “change” within themselves as individuals and shun any form of collective protest actions. It even goes as far enough to demonize militant organizations by displaying their flags and insinuating that all rallyists are paid hacks.

Young Filipinos must be vigilant and critical of the messages behind these media releases. We shall not be deceived.