Rights group tags “PLPasay” as anti-student
A rights group hit Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Pasay (PLPasay) yesterday as “anti-student”.
Students’ Rights and Welfare (STRAW) Coalition, a nationwide coalition of progressive youth groups that documents abuses on students’ rights, held a picket-rally in front of the said local college to denounce the “unjust removal” of student council president Regina Mae Alog.
Alog was reportedly removed from office by the Dean for Student Affairs Marcos Geronga. Alog filed a complaint against the board of the said school at the Regional Trial Court of Pasay City. In addition, she also filed an appeal for a temporary restraining order (TRO) to reinstate her as member of the Board of Regents.
STRAW Coalition backed Alog in calling for a TRO. Gibby Gorres, co-convenor of the said Coalition, urged the importance of “protecting Alog’s right as an elected student-official”.
Gorres also denounced Geronga’s “fascist decision to relieve Alog of her position without due process”.
“It is within any one’s right to be accorded due process and Geronga violated this right,” quipped Gorres.
Gio Tingson, law student from Ateneo de Manila University and National Chairperson of the Student Council Alliance of the Philippines, called for CHED to intervene in the issue.
“CHED is mandated to intervene in this issue and to take a more proactive stance in upholding students’ rights and welfare,” Tingson said.
STRAW Bill long overdue
Tingson also called for the passage of the Students’ Rights and Welfare Bill now pending in Congress. “The passage of the bill that protects students’ rights and welfare is long overdue”, he concluded. ###
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
References:
GIBBY GORRES, 09397632936
REGINA MAE ALOG, 09215885146
PAHALAGAHAN ANG DEMOKRASYA!
ITULOY ANG ELEKSIYON NG STUDENT COUNCIL SA RIZAL TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY!
Position Statement of ASAP-RTU
Nasasaad sa konstitusyon ng mga mag-aaral ng Rizal Technological University (RTU) na isang mandato na mayroong taunang eleksiyon na ginaganap para sa Mandaluyong Campus Central Student Council at College and Institute Student Council (CISC).
Ang mandato ay hindi natupad sa taong ito dahil sa isyu ng kawalan ng opisyal ng pamantasan na sana’y pipirma para sa budget request para sa eleksiyon. Setyembre nang naglabas ang Commission on Student Elections o Comselec ng kalendaryo patungo sa pagganap ng eleksyion ngunit hindi ito nasunod. Dahil dito, naipagpaliban ang eleksiyon at kasalukuyan pa ring walang klarong memorandum na nanggagaling mula sa Comselec hinggil sa pagpapatuloy ng eleksyon.
Isang agam-agam na niluluto ng Comselec na i-appoint na lamang ang mga opisyal ng student councils at tuluyan nang ipagpaliban ang eleksiyon. Isa sa mga dahilang sinasabi ng Comselec ay kawalan ng budget at panahon.
Kami sa Alliance of Students for Alternative Politics – RTU (ASAP-RTU) at sampu ng aming mga kaanib na organisasyon ay nananawagan sa COMSELEC na tuparin ang kanilang mandato na ituloy ang eleksiyon bago magtapos ang ikalawang lingo ng Enero.
>>Ang pagpapaliban ng eleksiyon ay isang klarong paglabag sa Konstitusyon at karapatan ng mga estudyante.
>>Dahil sa kawalan ng mga namumuno sa konseho ng mag-aaral, nasasakripisyo ang mga proyekto at programa na dapat sana ay nagbibigay benepisyo sa mga estudyante ng RTU. Palaki ng palaki ang badyet ng student council na hindi nagagamit.
>>Ang pag-appoint sa mga opisyales ng student council ay isang paglabag sa esensiya ng demokrasya ng RTU. Ang Comselec ay walang kapangyarihang mag-appoint labas sa sistema na isinasaad ng Student Government Code at Election Code.
>>Kailangang manaig ang boses ng mga estudyante sa gusto nilang mamuno sa kanila. Ang pag-appoint ng student councils ay maaaring simula ng patuloy na pagyurak sa karapatan ng mga estudyante na pumili ng mga representante sa konseho at maaring maulit sa mga sumusunod na taon.
ANG ASAP-RTU AY MARIING NANANAWAGAN NA ISULONG ANG KARAPATAN NG MGA MAG-AARAL SA PAGPILI NG MGA TUNAY NA REPRESENTANTE NA UUPO SA KONSEHO NG MGA MAG-AARAL NG RTU!
TUTULAN ANG PLANONG PAG-APPOINT!
BOTO MO, KARAPATAN MO!
-Alliance of Students for Alternative Politics – RTU
ASAP-RTU Hotline: +6393.96.529.679
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/metro/view/20100927-294608/8-students-shave-heads-to-protest-low-education-budget
8 students shave heads to protest low education budget
By Karen Boncocan
INQUIRER.net
Posted date: September 27, 2010
MANILA, Philippines—Eight students, including a young woman, on Monday shaved their heads outside Congress gates to express their opposition to the cuts to the budget of state universities and colleges (SUCs).
The protesting students from the Youth Against Debt of the Freedom from Debt Coalition also gave the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) a “fail” grade for not working on a higher budget for education.
The youth group appealed to Congress “to exercise its political will and give more to higher education,” because “these students will be…the future workforce.”
YAD told reporters that the government has been spending a mere six pesos per day for every student since 1987 even when the United Nations Economic, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) has set the international standards on education spending at 6 percent of the country’s Gross National Product (GNP).
“We call on the new Congress to pass an alternative education budget bill, (with) automatic appropriations to education measured at 6 percent of our GNP to enhance accessibility to education and skills development,” said YAD.
The appeal to congressmen was a day before deliberations on the budget of SUCs. They asked for recognition of the youth’s “right to education,” as well as to “make education accessible to all Filipino youth.”
Student councils oppose education budget cut, urge government for total cancellation of debt servicing instead
For immediate release
GIBBY GORRES – (0917) 362.7480
SCAP Secretariat – (0916) 5510.526
Student councils oppose education budget cut, urge government for total cancellation of debt servicing instead
State University student councils who are members of the national organization Student Council Alliance of the Philippines (SCAP) vehemently denounce the expressed intention of the government to cut education budget for the next fiscal year.
University of the Philippines College of Social Sciences and Philosophy Student Council and SCAP-NCR Chair Oyie Javelosa said that the direct effect of the intended budget cut against the education sector will unquestionably further marginalize the sector and might even contribute to the rapidly disturbing increase of out-of-school youth.
Using the SCAP data, the presumption is that government schools will be 1.7% lower than last year’s budget. Together with its allied organizations Akbayan Youth and Movement for the Advancement of Student Power, SCAP pushes foreign debt cancellation as a clear-cut alternative to shun away from any contemplation of slashing education budget.
“Of course the government is aware of the real depressing situation of our education system. We don’t have to make them realize that. What we intend to press on is the fact that mere political will to stop debt servicing or even deplete the funds being appropriated thereof would undeniably address this seemingly recurrent problem”, asserted Javelosa.
From the P1.64 trillion budget proposal for FY 2011, State universities and Colleges (SUCs) are about to receive P23.08 billion marking an obvious more than one percent drop off from last years fund.
“With the new administration, hope exists that maybe, youth concerns on proper financing will be properly addressed since for the past years, whenever budget deliberations come, the issue on budget especially for education sector appears to be perennial even if the tenable answer is quite obvious. We really urge the legislators to put the option of refusing to pay debts in a greater consideration”, said Gibby Gorres, SCAP Deputy Sec-Gen.
Two of the primary state universities UP and PNU, as expected, are greatly affected. Philippine Normal University’s budget slashed by 23.59% while UP is about to receive the blow of P1.3 billion in budget cut.
The said youth groups with broader coalitions will stage mobilizations outside the House of Representatives once the deliberations have started to express non-appreciation of the budget cut and to relay their message of concrete alternative.
“We don’t just steal scenes and destroy public properties to demand. We propose alternative that is deemed material and may bear essential output. It is the government leaders’ duty to respond appropriately and prioritize what is due for the people” Gorres quipped. ##
STRAW Forum at UP Diliman
UPAlyansa, Buklod CSSP and Akbayan! Youth are inviting you to a public forum on the Students’ Rights and Welfare Bill this September 3, 2010.
The forum will be held at 1-4 PM at the Palma Hall, UP Diliman campus.
The speakers are Rep. Walden Bello and former Akbayan Rep. Risa Hontiveros.
http://upalyansa.multiply.com/journal/item/267
Because students’ rights are human rights!
End fraternity violence-Akbayan youth
Students from the University of Makati mobilized by Akbayan youth conducted a candle-lighting event today in front of their school to call for an end to all forms of fraternity-related violence and to demand justice for EJ Karl Intia, A UMak student who was a victim of a recent fatal fraternity hazing.
“We abhor this latest act of violence done in the name of brotherhood,” Akbayan youth said in a statement.
It said while it respect the right of legitimate and bonafide fraternities to organize themselves as valid youth and student organizations, it says it is not supportive of hazing as an initiation rite to accept and pass candidates.
“Beyond being illegal, hazing is rooted in machismo greatly reinforced by violent behavior. It reinforces and reproduce the vicious cycle of violence which regrettably has been part of the fraternity culture and which ultimately betrays supposedly unsullied ideals and principles,” Akbayan youth said.
The youth group added that violence has no place in the realm of youth organizations. “Violence among youth organizations especially those claiming to represent their ideals and aspirations should be shunned. It is not the path towards youth leadership and camaraderie; on the contrary, it is a medieval pathway painted with blood and hatred.”
The group called on the members and leadership of the Alpha Phi Omega, the fraternity accused of the fatal hazing to cooperate with authorities and surrender all those involved in the incident. It also challenged Vice President Jejomar Binay, a card-bearing member of the fraternity to exercise due discretion in the speedy resolution of the issue.
“We do hope Vice President Binay and his fraternity will yield all of their accused brethren and render justice to the Intia family. They must not further tarnish their credibility to the student body by invoking the code of omerta as what other fraternities have done before. We ask them to comply and abide accordingly,” Akbayan youth said.
The youth group also appealed to all legitimate and bonafide fraternities together with their alumni to police their own ranks, reject violence especially hazing as a rite of passage. “A fraternity is supposed to be a union of brothers and sisters united by a common bond and vision. It is supposed to inculcate the values of leadership, friendship and service. Violence can and will never be a moral force to realize this. We do hope all genuine fraternities recognize this.”
The youth group is planning to ask congress to review the implementation of R.A. 8049 otherwise known as the Anti-Hazing law. It is also planning to conduct a national consultation with all genuine fraternities based in the schools and communities with the end view of making them commit to the said law and in transforming them as groups fomenting peace, harmony and academic excellence.
“All is not lost. Genuine fraternities can still regain their good standing in the eyes of the student body. However, before that happens, they must repudiate all forms of violence,” Akbayan youth concluded.
References:
GIBBY GORRES, 0917.362.7480
JOEY LIMSON, 0908.616.4143
Nearing enrollment for the second semester of the academic year, a youth group denounces what they deem as unfair practice of the University of Iloilo management.
The private university recently released a memo which gave an automatic incomplete grade to all students who have failed to settle their accounts. The memo was released by the school administration managed by the Phinma Education Network, a private business firm.
Taken into effect, the memo adds extra fees for students in paying 150 pesos per subject for the reprocessing of their grades. An average student takes 7 subjects per semester.
The Student Council Alliance of the Philippines (SCAP) criticized UI management for its capitalist approach towards education.
“This policy is clearly anti-student borne out of a capitalist venture within a welfare service”, remarks Joey Limson, Iloilo coordinator of SCAP. “Education is a welfare service and business interests should be relegated under the public interest”.
SCAP’s sister organization within UI, the Political Science Society, called for a dialogue between the students and the school management.
The UI-based organization is launching a signature campaign calling for a suspension of the memo. The organization also calls for CHED to intervene in order to protect students’ rights.
Kaiser Cordero, a member of the Political Science Society, reported that the memo was never circulated well among the studentry and thus caught the students by surprise.
“Our teachers can’t encode our grades because they had the system blocked”, added Cordero.
The organization’s president Karl Smith dela Pena in a Facebook post said, “the teaching pedagogy has changed drastically! It’s very obvious that the U.I-PEN is no longer observing the philosophy of student-teacher relation”.
“The inconvenient truth is that it’s already capitalist-clientele relation”, added Dela Pena. /end
—
For similar incidents in your locality or school, you may contact Student Council Alliance of the Philippines through the details provided above. You may also email scap.national@gmail.com
Media Person: Eriza Dapitan (eriza.dapitan@gmail.com http://scapnational.wordpress.com/ http://nochain.wordpress.com/ )
Youth group, Student Council Alliance of the Philippines (SCAP), denounced the administration solons brazen move to railroad Charter Change proposal in House of Representatives, yesterday, June 2, 2009.
Kick Con-Ass!
House Bill 1109 introduced by House Speaker Prospero Nograles was approved before 12 midnight of June 02, where legislators supporting the convening of Congress as a Constituent Assembly to change the 1987 Charter defeated the minority, in the plenary vote on Charter Change (ChaCha).
“This is yet again a slap on our democracy. GMA allies have gone way too far. They should prepare for the ultimate consequence of this action, mass protests will definitely greet them starting two o’clock this afternoon in St. Peter’s Church, Commonwealth,” says SCAP Secretary-General, Paula Bianca Lapuz.
The Alliance has retained its opposition against GMA’s ChaCha since it was first proposed in 2007. The group was quoted saying that they believed that “the Government’s motivation for changing our current political system is to ensure the political survival of the beleaguered presidency of Mrs. Gloria Macapagal – Arroyo.”
SCAP emphasized in its previous statements that “genuine pursuit of necessary and essential reforms in our political and electoral system could never take place under the present administration.”
Hence, the Alliance reiterates that initiatives for genuine political reforms must come from groups, institutions and individuals which/who have the moral and political ascendancy to lead the process of Charter Change, otherwise this process might just be used to further curtail the civil and political rights of our people.
Furthermore, the youth group cited that our people’s participation in the process of Charter Change is of utmost importance, if only, to legitimize the whole process.
“Doing ChaCha through Con-Ass is the highest form of treason. The administration cohorts in the lower house have betrayed the people yet again. Instead of prioritizing laws like Magna Carta of Students or the Extension and Reform of CARP, GMA allies chose to pass Con-ASS bill hastily, with great prejudice to minority leaders who had still wanted to raise arguments against the faults of the bill,” adds Lapuz.
Having condemned ConASS, SCAP maintained its stance that Charter Change could best serve the interest of the people if done through a Constitutional Convention, where delegates will be voted by the people in order to convene an independent body which will tackle revisions and/or amendments in the charter.
CARPER at Magna Carta of Students HINDI CHACHA
“Kick Con-ASS! That’s what we are saying. No to Charter Change under the GMA administration! Let’s not bring this country to an absolute political fiasco,” quips Lapuz.
“Student groups forming the Coalition for Students’ Rights and Welfare (STRAW) have been lobbying incessantly in the House of Representatives (HoR) during the past weeks in order to get the Magna Carta of Students passed at the committee level. It is very frustrating to see our legislators passing a bill which is highly detrimental to our democracy. We cannot tolerate this blatant disregard of the real important bills, which will in fact, help our people, especially our farmers and students greatly,” says coalition spokesperson Jamie Pring.
“We are deeply saddened by the developments in the lower house; we wish that Congress would tackle Magna Carta of Students and the Extension and Reform of CARP instead of insisting to convene a Constituent Assembly. This is a very crucial moment for genuine political reforms to take place and we are appalled to witness the slow death of our reform agenda in HoR especially if our legislators themselves are putting them off, case in point, the ChaCha Express,” adds Pring.
SCAP, being a co-convenor of the coalition, reminds solons that young people will not hesitate to go out in the streets again to show their indignation of this government’s outright mockery of our country’s democratic institutions and processes.
SCAP and the Coalition for STRAW are praying that key reform bills will be passed before the recess of Congress. Likewise, they are registering their protest against ChaCha.
“EDSA dos is likely to happen again. Young people are not ignorant; we saw and felt the youth power in 2001. This government never learns, as if GMA was not installed through the EDSA II uprising. We will ensure that our voices will be heard. HoR should legislate Magna Carta of Students NOW and as well as CARPER,” Lapuz concludes.
Magna Carta of Students has been pending in Congress for more than a decade already. No substantial discussion was brought out in the past to get it moving. The coalition hopes that through more rigorous lobbying, congress will finally legislate this into law.
CARPER was just passed in the Senate while the House was busy tackling Con-ASS. HoR closed without passing the bill in the plenary.
####
Statement on HoR ConAss:
June 3, 2009
The 1987 Constitution is also called the People Power Constitution, we youth and students are taught in schools.
It is called so to let us, the youth and students, appreciate the milieu where which the said constitution was born. It was born of a revolution. It was born of the collective Filipino people putting an end to the tyranny of Marcos, the repression and suppression of Martial Law. It is a constitution that says never again: Never again to dictatorship! Never again to martial law!
It might not be perfect but the 1987 Constitution is a testament of the long struggle of Filipinos for democracy. The People Power Constitution is a collective expression of the dreams, ideals, and aspiration of the Filipino people.
It is this Constitution that the shameful and shameless members of the majority in the House of Representatives (HoR) threaten to rape and bastardize, in a quickie 40- minutes to midnight of June 2, 2009.
We, in Akbayan! Youth, are one with the minority in HoR and the mass of Filipino people in standing guard and defending the People Power Constitution!
We, in Akbayan! Youth, call on our fellow youth and students to take on the cudgels in ensuring: Never Again to a Marcos or worse! Never Again to a GMA! Never Again GMA pig-heads in Congress!
-33-
After many decades, high hopes for the passage of this Magna Carta come to pass as it finally reached the Committee hearing. The Coalition for Students’ Right and Welfare attended to vigorous lobbying efforts by going door-to-door to talk to the representatives who will champion the bill. The Magna Carta of Students Bill is currently subject for committee deliberation and to be decided upon the Committee on Higher and Technical Education in Congress.
However, the Coalition for Students’ Right and Welfare today responds strongly to anti-students statements against the legislation of Magna Carta of Students. Last May 27 was supposedly the Committee hearing for the Magna Carta of Students but unfortunately, A-TEACHER Party-list Representative Mariano Piamonte, Jr. delayed the voting for the bill by asserting to re-schedule the hearing for the Magna Carta due to lack of quorum. June 2, 2009 is the set date for the hearing before the Congress goes into recess.
After the committee meeting, we heard Rep. Piamonte saying “I won’t let Magna Carta of Students to be passed over my dead body!”. This statement was addressed and was heard by his fellow legislators and student leaders lobbying for the bill inside the room. This is obviously a slap on the face for students and their families working hard and struggling for better education to hear a legislator from an organization which supposed to advance the welfare of students uttering this boldly.
Another A-TEACHER Party-list Representative Ulpiano Sarmiento questions the bill’s legality and said that “…the bill suffers from serious constitutional and logical infirmity”. He also said that there are already a multitude of laws protecting student rights like the Campus Journalism Act and the Education Act of 1982 and the rights provided by the Magna Carta were already granted to the students. He reiterated that what is needed is to strengthen the implementation of these laws.
Rep. Sarmiento criticized sections 5 and 22 of the bill in a press release. However, Rep. Sarmiento is actually present in some of the technical working group meetings where these points were rigorously deliberated. These technical working group meetings were attended by representatives of different groups, institutions and the lawmakers themselves. In case that some questions in parts of the bills arise, this technical working group can suggest to amend or repeal such part. He could choose to articulate these sentiments in the TWG meetings so he could help to amend the “constitutional and logical infirmity” of this bill if there are really some.
If the cited laws like the Campus Journalism Act and the Education Act of 1982 are already enough and already grant students’ right and welfare, number of campus repressions should have already decreased and many of the youth can already afford to be in school. We have questioned and put forward our criticisms many times on Education Act of 1982, also known as the “Education Deregulation Act” which had privatized the educational institutions and left our public education to decline leaving most of students dropping out of school or not be able to enroll altogether.
The June 2 Committee Hearing on the substitute bill of Magna Carta is very important for this decade-long advocacy of many students, parents, and education stakeholders alike. This bill is a battle against campus repression and a fight for better education. May our legislators take heed and public interest be upheld through their conscientious vote and their support until plenary deliberations. We call on the public to join us in this advocacy and to continue to be vigilant.
Ninian Sumadia
Co-convenor, Coalition for Students Rights and Welfare
ninian.sumadia@gmail.com
www.nochain.wordpress.com
June 1, 2009
