Press Release
January 19, 2009

High school students from different schools in Metro Manila trooped to the Quezon City Science High School today to express their support to the four students whose 10-day suspension as penalty for posting critical blogs was blocked by the Department of Education.

“We want to greet our fellow high school students as they go to class today, knowing that barely yesterday, they were barred from going to school until the intervention from the DepEd,” said Jessica Anoos from the League of Filipino Students – High School chapter.

Anoos added that they not only wish to greet the QCSHS four but recognize their courage for exposing the anomalies in their school, explaining that it is not easy for secondary students to criticize their school administration for fear of the punishment that they may receive.

“If this happened in other high schools, the reaction of the administration would be similar to that of QCSHS principal Zenaida Sadsad, suspension and other penalties and so students are being forced to remain silent instead of expressing their grievances,” Anoos said.

Meanwhile, Vencer Crisostomo, national chairperson of the LFS urged the DepEd to focus its investigation on Sadsad and the QCSHS administration.

“Though the suspension was blocked, the students still face an investigation on whether their blog has violated school rules so the threat remains. However, it would be better for the DepE to channel its energies into investigating the students’ grievances against Sadsad, such that necessary sanctions may be given to her should the allegations be true,” said Crisostomo.

The LFS urged other secondary students to follow the example of the QCSHS Four and fearlessly expose the wrongdoings of their school administration.

“It is a democratic right and a responsibility of students to air their criticism of their school’s administration. And school administrators meanwhile must be barred from using their position and power to threaten the students from speaking and airing their concerns,” said Crisostomo. ###

For the latest Philippine news stories and videos, visit GMANews.TV

For the latest Philippine news stories and videos, visit GMANews.TV

 Share now!

Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 02:46am (Mla time) 06/20/2008

On the third day of classes in the hundredth year of the University of the Philippines (UP), a freshman from Cotabato province, a Chemistry major at UP in Diliman, Quezon City, had to drop out. Together with his father, the brokenhearted young man went to see each of his instructors to have his subjects invalidated.

While his Math 17 instructor was deleting his name from the class list, I could see the poverty, desperation, anger and sense of resignation in their faces. It was not the disappointment of winning the lottery and being denied the prize later. The young man is a member of a minority group in Mindanao. Without any connections and in the absence of any socialized admission policy, he qualified as a freshman in the College of Science of UP Diliman, a distinction he earned through intelligence, pure hard work and perseverance amid poverty. But in a few days, father and son are going back to Mindanao for good.

The father explained they could not afford the “socialized” tuition at P600 per unit for students in Bracket C, families whose annual incomes range from P135,001 to P500,000 per annum. The father and son expected to be in Bracket D, families with annual incomes ranging from P80,001 to P135,000. Students in bracket D pay P300 per unit.

UP president Emerlinda Roman seems to be disconnected from reality, or she must be fooling herself by insisting that the new Socialized Tuition and Financial Assistance Program (STFAP) is fair and proper for an “iskolar ng bayan” [scholar of the nation]. Her family should try living on P6,666.75 a month (which when multiplied by 12—the number of months in a year—equals P80,001, the lower bound of Bracket D incomes).

UP, no longer conscious of its role in society, chooses to ignore the long-term impact of offering greater genuine educational opportunities to the brightest among the poor, who are getting poorer amid the reported economic gains of the country. Socialized admission and tuition fee schemes do not lower academic standards. I’ve had countless students from public schools and far-flung provinces. They come to UP not as well prepared as their counterparts from the best schools in Metro Manila. But many later outshine the sometimes overconfident Manila-raised kids.

After the new STFAP took effect last year, UP is no longer an option for the brightest among the poor. I agree with the cab driver whose daughter qualified for UP Diliman, as narrated in Youngblood (Inquirer, 3/24/08) by Mariel Kierulf Asiddao, a UP Mass Communication student. The cab driver insisted it was ESTIFAK and not STFAP.

NOLI N. REYES, professor, Institute of Mathematics, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City

 Share now!

What is the Ugnayan ng Mag-aaral laban sa Komersyalisasyon or UMAKSYON?

It is a broad alliance of student formations – organizations, fraternities and sororities, freshmen blocks, student councils and publications – of iskolars ng bayan of the University of the Philippines united in fighting for our right to education and opposing the intensifying commercialization of education. It enjoins iskolars ng bayan to participate in fighting for our right to education through various creative forms of action.

What does UMAKSYON believe in?

UMAKSYON believes that education is a right of the iskolars ng bayan and the Filipino people. It therefore opposes the intensifying commercialization of education – the selling of education as a commodity – which makes education a right of a few who can pay and not the right of everyone. It believes that as a right, education must be provided by the state to the people. It therefore fights for greater state subsidy for UP and education.

It opposes the following forms of commercialization of education in UP Diliman:

* The 300% UP system-wide tuition increase
* The various lab fee increases in different UPD colleges, particularly in the Colleges of Mass Communication and Engineering
* The utilization of the UP Arboretum for call centers and commercial establishments in th guise of a Science and Technology Park
* The continuing threat of demolition of UP Diliman informal communities as part of the UP Administration’s goal of consolidating its territory to further its investment viability

What are the objectives of UMAKSYON?

UMAKSYON wants to unite as many iskolars ng bayan as possible in fighting for our right to education and in opposing the intensifying commercialization of education. It wants to translate this unity in principle into collective and creative action. It wants to call the attention of the public, the UP Administration and the government to its advocacies.

At present, it is involved in the campaign to rollback the 300% UP System-wide tuition increase in light of the current economic crisis of food and energy the country faces. More so, it also stands for the total junking of the UP tuition increase policy by the UP Administration, as the policy itself is the greatest means by which the education in UP is commercialized, thus, precluding many prospective Iskolars ng Bayan from entering the University and enjoying their right as Iskolars ng Bayan.

How will UMAKSYON achieve its objectives?

UMAKSYON plans to achieve its objectives through the following:

* Launch a widespread and sustained education campaign on the right to education and the intensifying commercialization of education,
* Seek out, craft, and utilize creative forms of action, and
* Deepen research and analysis on the commercialization of education.

How will UMAKSYON work?

As main convenors of UMAKSYON, the Office of the UP Student Regent and the Student Alliance for the Advance of Democratic Rights in UP (STAND-UP) are asking all student formations to join UMAKSYON. All members of UMAKSYON shall meet at least once in every two months in the UMAKSYON Meet. UMAKSYON shall have in the minimum four (4) committees: (1) secretariat, (2) education and research, (3) propaganda, and (4) finance. Members shall be asked to join one of these committees.

We also request all student formations to become co-convenors of UMAKSYON. The As co-convenors shall form the Board of Convenors which shall meet regularly to ensure the implementation of the plans of UMAKSYON. It is from the Board of Convenors that heads of the committees shall be appointed. Committees will likewise hold regular meetings to ensure the implementation of the plans of UMAKSYON.

UMAKSYON Manifesto

As part of the united resolve of Iskolars ng Bayan to decisvely confront the unabated commericialization of our beloved University, We, student councils, student publications, student organizations, fraternities and sororities of the University of the Philippines Diliman, unequivocally declare the following:

1. UMAKSYON believes that education is a right of the iskolars ng bayan and the Filipino people. It therefore opposes the intensifying commercialization of education – the selling of education as a commodity – which makes education a right of a few who can pay and not the right of everyone. It believes that as a right, education must be provided by the state to the people. It therefore fights for greater state subsidy for UP and education.
2. That the 300% UP System-Wide tuition increase be rolled back by the UP Administration, in light of the current economic crisis the country faces, particularly the skyrocketing prices of rice, oil and other basic commodities. According to reports, the price of gasoline might reach as high as PhP65/liter while the price of rice might reach as high as PhP60/kilo. Both are utterly unreasonable economic burden the average Filipino family needs to bear which the UP Administration needs to recognize as well. Thus, the University of the Philippines must actively contribute its part in alleviating the plight of its tens of thousands of students who face these difficult economic conditions, all of which cannot necessarily be answered by UP’s mere offer of student loans and numerous scholarships.
3. That in order for the best and the brightest Filipino youth to continue enjoying their right to education in the years to come, the approved 300% UP sytem-wide tuition increase policy last December 2006 must be abated conclusively. In the last two years of its implementation, the University of the Philippines saw a decline in enrollment of freshman students, especially in unmarketable yet very important academic institutions such as creative writing, geodetic engineering, fisheries, among others. There have also been countless reports of unjust mismatches in the STFAP, in which many poor yet deserving students are rebracketed to Brackets C and B despite conclusive proof of their economic situation. This has led to a record number of unneccesary student loans and several reports of student dropouts by year-end.
4. That, while the UP Administration has much to account for pushing this policy to the detriment of our right to accessible education, the greatest accountability lies in the doorsteps of Malacanang. For years, the policy of the Arroyo government has always been to force state colleges and universities (SCUs) to internally generate its own income for operations, as the long-standing policy of her government is to annually decrease subsidies to these state schools under the Long-Term Higher Education Development Plan (LTHEDP) of the late 90s. This policy is clearly anathema to the long-term development of our state schools, especially the University of the Philippines. First, instead of the UP being able to recruit the best young minds in the country today, numerous students may be unnecesarily hampered by ther financial incapacity to pay the high tuition rates that shall be imposed under such a commercialization policy by government. Second, such a policy shall only lead to greater commercialization measures by state schools such as the utilization of idle assets for commercial purposes instead of using these lands for the further development of our academic programs and institutions. Worst of all, this policy clears the way for the likely future of total state abandonment of our state colleges and universities, where these SCUs shall soon operate like private educational institutions with high tuition rates and without the needed government subsidies to ensure that all students regardless of socio-economic class may enjoy a college education.
5. That, the only answer to the increasing financial woes of the University and other SCUs has always been full subsidies by the Arroyo government to these schools, as no amount of tuition increases or commercialization measures can necessarily account for the structural backwardness of our academic institutitions to make it at par with leading universities abroad.
6. That, as the leading alliance against commercialization, UMAKSYON shall unite as many iskolars ng bayan as possible in fighting for our right to education and in opposing the intensifying commercialization of education. It shall translate this unity in principle into collective and creative action. It shall call the attention of the public, the UP Administration and the government to its advocacies.
UMAKSYON concept paper

 Share now!

During this registration period, nothing can be more unwelcome than the host of exorbitant fees that will be sucked from the pockets of families already burdened by the soaring prices of basic commodities and worsening economic conditions.

Just like any commodity in the market today with steep price hikes, academic courses in our college are rendered more expensive with last year’s tuition fee increase and the recent hike in laboratory fees in some Broadcast Communication subjects. These schemes can be deemed as nothing but indicators of long-standing commercialization policies of education which the Arroyo regime created from a neoliberal mold.

The recent move of the government to freeze tuition hikes this coming academic year in state colleges and universities only reflects its insincerity. Rather than abolish existing policies that breed incessant hikes in tuition and miscellaneous fees, the Arroyo regime has resorted to a belated band-aid solution to save its face during these period of declining living standards.

When the 300 percent tuition fee increase in our university has already done its damage, the moratorium on tuition hikes becomes pointless. It is then highly justified to call for a rollback of tuition using the same premise that the government pretends to uphold – economic relief of Filipino families.

With its firm stand to keep its hands off from miscellaneous and laboratory fees, the Arroyo regime has further rendered its intention to mitigate the impact of “food price shock” and oil price hikes futile. A laboratory fee of P600 if scrapped, for instance, can mean additional 16 kilos of rice for a family, only if the regime would allot public funds where its mouth is.

The country’s premiere state university should be catering to the underprivileged during these difficult times. But when it sets up barriers in the form of tuition hikes and exorbitant fees, the youth have no recourse but to take the fight against the commercialization of education to the streets.

Scrap laboratory fees!
Rollback the tuition!
Junk the 300 percent hike tuition policy!
Oppose the commercialization of education!

League of Filipino Students – College of Mass Communication
(For comments and reactions, please text 0905.2347046)

 Share now!

May 27, 2008

Students from state universities University of the Philippines (UP), Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP), and other state-run schools, want their tuition fees rolled back and miscellaneous fees which were collected this enrollment refunded in light of the president’s announcement that a tuition moratorium be implemented in state colleges and universities this semester.

This, as the “moratorium” will not actually have an effect if it doesn’t cause a rollback in high tuition rates, according to League of Filipino Students (LFS) national chairperson Vencer Crisostomo.

“Technically a ‘moratorium’ at this point doesn’t make any sense, as the decision-making processes for additional tuition and other fees have already been done during the past months the past years,” he said.

Crisostomo cited UP as an example, which implemented a 300% tuition increase from P300 to P1000 per unit last school year.

“A year since the increase, UP has ceased to be a university which accommodates ‘poor but deserving’ students. A tuition rollback should definitely be considered,” he said.

Students from PUP meanwhile, demand a refund of the collection of a new “developmental fee” which costs P250, saying the fee is “unnecessary, unfair and unjust” as it is only being used for
beautification projects which do not directly effect the quality of education.

“There may be no increase in tuition, but questionable fees are being imposed. These should be investigated, scrapped and refunded,” Crisostomo said. #

Reference: Vencer Crisostomo, 09157991059, 09228262606

 Share now!

May 26, 2008

As President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is set to make a statement on tuition fees and other education woes today, members of the League of Filipino Students (LFS) led a protest action calling for substantial reforms in the education system.

According to Vencer Crisostomo, LFS national chairperson, the statements the president will be making “will likely be just for show” as enrollment season has already begun and many have already paid their tuition fees.

Crisostomo also said that the president may just be “using the tuition issue to boost her popularity, when in fact, during the most crucial period which was the consultation phase, she lifted the cap on tuition increases and permitted skyrocketing hikes.”

He cited a news article published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer dated January 9, 2008, which reported Arroyo’s approval of the CHEd move to lift the previously agreed upon cap of 7.6%, or equivalent to the prevailing inflation rate.
(http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view_article.php?article_id=111345)

Bogus consultations
“The government policy ever since actually allows unlimited and unjust tuition increases. They try to hide this fact by stating that increases are subject to consultations, but a look at the CHEd guidelines will show that these so-called consultations do not include miscellaneous fees, tuition of incoming freshmen, and ladderized or automatic increase schemes,” Crisostomo said.

He also said that consultations are not actually done as a “process for approval but only to notify.”

“Bogus consultations have become the norm. Even if the students and parents do not approve the proposals, the CHEd does not have the power and does not do anything, for that matter, to stop the increases,” he said.

Most schools also do not comply with the policy stated in the CHEd guidelines that “70% of proceeds derived from the tuition shall be used for increase in salaries and wages of school employees.”

State U’s operating like private schools Crisostomo also said that the Arroyo government is also to blame for the tuition increases in most state universities and colleges.

“We need only to look at the University of the Philippines (UP), which now runs like a ‘private school’ with almost P40,000 per year (P20,000/sem) tuition,” he said.

UP implemented a 300% tuition fee last year, from P300/unit to P1,000. Along with UP, Eulogio Amang Rodriguez Institute (EARIST), one of the schools with the lowest tuition fees, increased by 600%, from P15 to P100.

Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) attempted to increase its tuition from P12.50 per unit to P75 per unit but failed after being faced by student walk-out protests. But according to Crisostomo, students were surprised to learn that the administration was suddenly collecting P250 for “developmental fees.”

U-turn to state ‘responsibility’

Crisostomo said that in order to genuinely address the problems at hand, the government should take a “u-turn” from its deregulation and privatization policy in education. He said reforms should be implemented including raising government subsidy for education and the regulation of tuition fees.

“Fact is, the students and parents of today are being faced by high education costs due to a flawed policy of deregulation and state neglect. The government must reverse this, investigate in order to rollback tuition costs in private institutions and increase state subsidy and lower tuition rates in state run schools,” said Crisostomo. #

Reference: Vencer Crisostomo, LFS National Chairperson 09157991059, 09228262606

 Share now!

Once again, the University of the Philippines has reared its fascist head and completely shed its progressive and liberal pretensions as an academic institution.

Gross and Fascist Disrespect to Two Former Regents while in the Exercise of University-Honored Freedom of Expression

On the 27th of April, during the final phase of the Centennial Commencement Exercises in UP Diliman, two former Student Regents of the University of the Philippines, J.M. Terry L. Ridon (2007 UP SR) and Ken Leonard Ramos (2005 UP SR), were almost mauled and forcibly pushed like common criminals and no-gooders by members of the UP Police Force (UPF) and the UP Diliman Social Services Brigade (SSB) as they were going up the center stage in Quezon Hall to approach former colleagues in the Board of Regents and the UP Administration, while attempting to conclusively seek clearance from the Vice-Chancellor for Community Affairs of UP Diliman (UPD-VCCA) for the coordinated and traditional lightning protest rally seeking to challenge new UP graduates to Serve the People, as per the agreement of former SR Ridon and the VCCA prior to the start of the University Commencement Exercises.

Despite pleas and cries by the former UP SRs to the UPF to recognize their right to attend the convocation of past and present UP System officials during the graduation, the UPF forcibly pushed the two former UP officials away and even grabbed them by their clothing until they were clearly out of the garrison-like security barricade in Quezon Hall. One security official even uttered, “Wala kaming pakialam kung sino pa kayo, basta walang order sa amin, wala kayong karapatan pumasok.” Another also said, “Wala kaming pakialam kung ano pang sabihin ninyo, wala naman kayo sa programa sasali-sali kayo. This the UPF said despite fully knowing the clear orders of the VCCA to allow at least four student leaders to unfurl the Serve the People banner on the bridgeway of Quezon Hall.

The UPF, the SSB, and the central organizers of the UPD Commencement Exercises are clearly in bad faith for this gross disrespect to two former UP System officials that served the University in the best way they can during their respective terms, notwithstanding being among the members of the Board of Regents who have clearly stood for better benefits of SSB members, and better pay for UPF officers. All of these things apparently were of no import to the organizers, particularly the UPF and the SSB, as they treated the former Regents as if they were rioting no-gooders. Clearly, none of the two acted such, and they came neatly dressed in a barong and polo, ready to face former colleagues and impart to fellow students the unstated wisdom of the need to serve the country at a time of crisis. The organizers and UP security officers even conveniently forgot that former Regents join the Graduation Processional and have a place in the center stage. More so, even if former SR Ridon invoked the clearance gave by the Office of the VCCA and despite providing information that the UP President herself knows the former UP Student Regents’ attendance in the graduation, the UP security officers continued to forcibly push the former Regents away from the center stage while hurling invectives similar to those stated above.

Moreover, the two former Regents clearly stated their intentions to the UP Administration prior to the Commencement Exercises that there shall be no attempts to disrupt the program, to the extent that they even asked that the lightning protest be seamlessly integrated into the graduation program. However, the UP Administration clearly reneged on its word to the former UP SRs who volunteered to unfurl the banners to avoid unexpected inconveniences with graduation organizers, believing that fundamental respect would still be accorded them as former UP System officials.

What is most surprising in all of these is the clear attempt by graduation organizers, particularly the UPF and the SSB, to wantonly break the agreement between the VCCA and former UP SR Ridon, even as they perfectly knew the order from the VCCA to allow a maximum of eight student leaders to unfurl their banner.

Unstated Fascist University Policy on Dissent is the Main Issue

In all of these, accountability for this gross disrespect to former UP officials lies not only on the shoulders of particular officers of the SSB, UPF and graduation organizers. Full accountability lies on the doorsteps of the UP Administration itself, for its unstated policy of effectively dismantling dissent from students, faculty, staff, among other sectors, even if they be former Student Regents, co-equal student representatives of the UP President in the highest policy-making bodies of the University.

No one forgets how the microphone of the former UP SR was turned off while addressing freshman students on the anti-student impacts of the tuition increase during the June 2007 Freshman Orientation at the UP Theater. During the 2007 UP Lantern Parade, the speech of a former USC Councilor was forcibly cut short for sharply integrating the need of celebrating the spirit of Christmas while confronting commercialization issues. Student leaders and activists were all unceremoniously harangued, pushed, and punched by UP security forces such as the SSB and the UPF during these University events.

On the other hand, it has also been these UP security forces that have been involved in UP-ordered demolitions of underlying urban poor communities at the periphery of UPD’s academic core zone, in pursuit of an anti-people UP policy to clear the University of urban blight. Lastly, it has also been these UP security forces through UP Administration orders that have forcibly and bloodily dismantled the picket of illegally dismissed utility workers by Care Best agency, all of which have led to numerous injuries, including former USC Chairperson Juan Paolo Alfonso.

It is precisely these instances and direct orders of force from high officials of the University Administration which has emboldened our very own security forces to act as if they are security forces of the Arroyo administration when they deal with dissenting members and communities of the University. Lest we forget, the UPF and the SSB’s mandate amounts merely to maintaining peace and order, without infringing on clear and time-honored political and civil rights of members in a university purporting to advocate academic freedom.

In the events stated above, most especially the unfortunate incident involving former UP Regents, we submit that there is a clear transgression of such a mandate. By these acts, the differentiation between rabid Arroyo security forces and aging and well-loved UP security officers shall have blurred, and political repression outside UP shall now have seeped into an academic community supposedly comprised of freedom and democracy-loving persons, by the very policies of our own UP Administration. Only by changing its unstated fascist policy on dissenting members of the academic community can we fully expect a return to its supposedly democratic ideals.

The Demand for a Public Apology and the Relief of Directly Erring Officers

Given all these, the two former Student Regents and the Office of the Student Regent unequivocally demand a formal public apology from UP System and UP Diliman officials for grossly disrespecting the persons of former UP Board of Regents members and assaulting the dignity and integrity of the Office of the Student Regent which facilitated the agreement between the VCCA and the protest rally organizers. By reneging on the agreement to allow the unfurling banners and almost mauling former UP system officials, the Office of the Student Regent’s integrity as the highest student representation in the University shall have been blemished and rendered nugatory for all to disrespect.

We wish to remind the UP Administration that even if we are mere students of this University, we are still former Regents who have fully served the University. More so, the Office which we once represented embody the protracted struggle of the Iskolars ng Bayan to defend their democratic rights, inside or outside UP. The UP security forces may push us all they want, and harangue our persons, but we shall never allow the one of the most cherished UP student institution we once represented to be disrespected like such. If we allow UP to browbeat and intimidate UP Student Regents, shall we then presume that crueler treatment awaits the ordinary UP student?

On the other hand, we demand the immediate relief upon investigation of all directly involved UP security officers in the April 27th incident with the former UP Student Regents. They must be made to pay the price for their arrogance, gross disrespect to former UP officials, and most importantly, defying a clear order from the VCCA to allow student leaders, former UP SRS, to unfurl banners as part of the lightning protest during the commencement exercises. There is no defense to their insubordination and arrogance, as the former UP Regents were clearly within their rights to enter the center stage and approach the VCCA to seek conclusive clearance for the unfurling of the Serve the People banner. By preventing the unfurling of the banner at the bridgeway of Quezon Hall, the graduation organizers and the UP security officials have successfully frustrated the students’ exercise of their right to free expression, as per agreement with the VCCA.

The University of the Philippines has always been proud of its democratic traditions. With the event above, all these seems to have been completely dismantled. We sincerely hope that the UP Administration does its part in reassuring our former Student Regents, the student institutions they once represented, and the Iskolars ng Bayan in general, that the UP is still the bastion of free thinking, expression and critical dissent.

Ken Leonard Ramos J.M. Terry L. Ridon

2005 UP Student Regent 2007 UP Student Regent

 Share now!

* OF CARTELS & CORRUPTION: Exposing the Rice Crisis
* A TIMELINE of UP Commercialization Schemes
* STAND UP Calendar of Activities

Serve the People!
Tunay! Palaban! Makabayan! STAND UP!

 Share now!

MANIFESTO OF UNITY AGAINST THE NEW LABORATORY FEE HIKES IN MORE THAN 30 CMC SUBJECTS

We, students of the College of Mass Communication, strongly condemn the railroading of the laboratory fee hikes in 10 Broadcast Communication subjects and 4 Broadcast Journalism subjects last March 12, and oppose similar impending hikes in at least 23 Film subjects. We take these recent moves as an assault to the principle of democratic consultation of the studentry and a clear indication of the commercialization route that our university is currently taking.

We stand firm and united against these anti-student policies that further render quality education as inaccessible, as this recent maneuver will set the trend in other degree programs in the college.

We also question the procedures and conditions which the approval of lab fees in Broadcast Communication subjects have undergone, and warn future tricks of a more scathing dissent from the broad number of uninformed or ill-informed students.

Rather than subscribe to the faulty logic of better facilities from greater lab fees, we remain steadfast in preserving democratic access to such mass media courses and in upholding the interest of the broad number of financially underprivileged students who will be severely hit by such increases.

The need to upgrade and replace some of the existing equipment and facilities in the college is unquestionable. However, we do not see the laboratory fee hikes as the panacea to the long-standing problem of the college in meeting the capital needs of equipment-intensive courses. Instead, we see the hikes as a counter-productive measure that will seriously limit the cultivation of skills of the broadest number of students, since costs always impose limits. This is a glaring truth especially in the context of worsening living conditions in the country.

In the interest of the Iskolar ng Bayan suffering under the harsh economic conditions engendered by the disregard of the Arroyo regime for the basic rights and needs of the people, we are determined to take effective steps to halt the impending lab fee hikes and to boldly assert that the new laboratory fee hikes in Broadcast Communication was railroaded. We persist in our call for greater state subsidy and demand the re-channeling of the people’s funds from widespread corruption to social services such as education.

No to Lab Fee Hikes!
No to Commercialization of Education!

STUDENT ALLIANCE FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS IN UP – CMC
(STAND-UP CMC)
Maalam. May Pakialam. Naninindigan.

_________________________________________________________________________
Please sign up the manifesto near the CMC Student Council booth today to register our initial opposition before the consultation on Friday, 12nn at the CMC auditorium. Please visit our online manifesto at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/labmenot/ and register your dissent against the imposed and proposed lab fee hikes.

 Share now!

Lightning rally vs Arroyo surprises police in Baguio

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines — Five activists were arrested while some others were injured after scuffling with police enforcers who tried to prevent them from staging a lightning rally in front of the presidential mansion in Baguio City late Tuesday afternoon.

Links:

GMANEWS.TV:5 arrested in anti-Arroyo lightning rally in Baguio

ABS-CBNNEWS.COM: Baguio activists greet Arroyo with protest

Click HERE for photos.

Other Sources:

http://news.monstersandcritics.com/asiapacific/news/article_1395869.php/Grenade_blast_near_Philippine_presidential_palace_18_hurt
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2008/mar/19/yehey/top_stories/20080319top2.html

LOS BANOS, LAGUNA

Lozada continues ‘truth caravan’ in UP Los Baños visit

MANILA, Philippines – Fresh from his much talked-about visit in Cebu province, ZTE deal witness Rodolfo Noel Lozada Jr on Tuesday flew to Laguna to attend yet another “truth forum” at the University of the Philippines in Los Baños.

GMA NEWS.TV: Lozada continues ‘truth caravan’ in UP Los Baños visit

 Share now!