PRESS RELEASE
July 2, 2010

Here come your ‘bosses’ Noy
Students and youth march for education, GMA accountability

“Mr. President, your young ‘bosses’ are marching to Malacanang to decry the education crisis. Our demands must be met, with extraordinary haste.” This was the statement of Terry Ridon, national chairperson of the League of Filipino Students, as hundreds of students and community youth converged to protest the nine years of neglect and failure in education of the previous Arroyo government.

The students and youth reiterated their call for the immediate release of emergency funds for education, to be sourced primarily from the Office of the President’s discretionary funds, according to College Editors Guild of the Philippines chairperson Trina Federis.

As to the initial beneficiaries of the emergency fund, National Union of Student of the Philippines chairperson Einstein Recedes identified the Polytechnic University of the Philippines as a possible beneficiary.

According to the protesters, nine years of neglect had decayed many state schools, and forced all to employ income-generating schemes to augment meager budget allocations.

Recedes said, “The PUP administration, due to utter lack of funds, had been forced to refuse enrollment to qualified freshmen, leaving them with no prospect of any college education.”

The marchers also called on Pres. Aquino to order the regulation of tuition and other fees, saying that the CHEd under Mrs. Arroyo allowed yearly increases that had now almost doubled from 2001.

On the other hand, Tin Valerio, Secretary-General of the Student Christian Movement challenged Pres. Aquino to immediately prosecute former Pres. Arroyo, not only for alleged crimes of plunder and corruption, but also for policy failures in education, economy and human rights.

“Many of our student and youth activists were murdered in the previous regime. Pres. Aquino must never allow their deaths to be in vain and allow Mrs. Arroyo to enjoy her retirement,” Valerio said.

The youth protesters vowed to critically engage the new administration and ensure that Pres. Aquino does not renege on his promise of change and Arroyo’s accountability.

“There is no honeymoon period, Mr. President. Either you perform your promises to the people or you will tread the familiar disgraced route as the president before you,” Anton Dulce, vice-chairperson of Anakbayan said.