This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. V, No. 24, July 24-30, 2005
Despite Malacañang’s
maneuvers
Students
Hold Classes in Street, Join SONA Protest
High school
student Xaviera Vasquez, 15, was among the thousands of students who were made
to attend by their schools the July 16 pro-Arroyo rally in Rizal Park, Manila.
Come Monday, the day of the State of the Nation address of the president,
Vasquez will be among the thousands of students nationwide protesting in the
street.
By Carl Marc Ramota
Bulatlat In an obvious
attempt to prevent school walkouts and students from joining the protest on the
State-of-the-Nation address (SONA), Malacañang (the presidential office) has
ordered the suspension of classes in Metro Manila on July 25. But even
this, according to student leaders, will not be enough to deter students from
joining Monday’s huge protest. The coming SONA rally may yet prove to be the
biggest demonstration participated in this year by youth and students
nationwide.
“The
government may have suspended school operations but they can’t prevent students
from holding classes in the streets. This only shows that Arroyo is really
afraid of us,” Youth Demanding Arroyo’s Removal (Youth DARE) spokesperson
Raymond Palatino said.
Palatino chided Malacañang over its decision to suspend classes on Monday saying
the Arroyo government is already desperate to quell mounting student protests.
Arroyo has also declared July 25 as a special non-working holiday.
At
least 3,000 students from different universities and public high schools walked
out of their classes last July 13 to join the mammoth anti-Arroyo rally in
Ayala.
Deception and intimidation
Palatino said the Arroyo government is using both deception and intimidation to
suppress growing dissent among the youth.
In
the July 16 pro-Arroyo rally in Rizal Park in Manila, he said several student
groups have complained to Youth DARE that they were required by their school
administrators to join the rally as an academic requirement. Cadets and
community volunteers of the National Service Training Program (NSTP) in
different schools in Metro Manila were also obliged by their commandants to
attend. He added that even public high school students were also compelled to
participate in today’s pro-Arroyo mobilization. Meanwhile,
Palatino said officers of several student councils from different Catholic
schools, including Miriam, St. Scholastica and San Sebastian College cried foul
over Malacañang’s press release last July 12 stating they were supporting
Macapagal-Arroyo. The student
leaders were invited in Malacañang for a dialogue with the president but,
according to Palatino, it turned out as another photo opportunity session with
Arroyo’s “supporters.” “Arroyo is so desperate to
cling to power that she will do anything, even steal a moment with some student
representatives just to make the people believe that she is still supported by
the youth sector. She’s a big liar,” Palatino said.
Few
days after that, the Western Police District (WPD) issued a directive to school
officials to confine student protests inside the campuses. Moreover, Polytechnic
University of the Philippines (PUP) Student Regent Diana Mond Directo revealed
that police and intelligence agents are now being deployed inside their campus
to spy on the student council and other organizations. Youth groups
also slammed National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales' statement that 83
percent of those attending anti-Arroyo pickets and rallies are Communist Party
of the Philippines (CPP) front organizations. "Where in
God's name did he come up with that ratio? Malacañang is once again resorting to
baseless name-tagging and witch hunts at the expense of thousands of youth and
students. This is not democracy, this is worse than Martial Law. Now we are
under the threat of being arrested for merely exercising our rights to express
ourselves and fighting for what we stand for," said Eleanor de Guzman, Anakbayan
secretary-general and Youth DARE convenor. Executive
Secretary Eduardo Ermita earlier declared that alleged front organizations and
members of the National Democratic Front face impending arrest following its
decision to back out of peace negotiations with the Arroyo administration.
League of
Filipino Students (LFS) chair Vencer Crisostomo also warned the police and
Arroyo not to use rumors of NPA (New People’s Army) infiltration to justify the
use of violence to counter the SONA protest. “Stories of
‘communist infiltration’ in the SONA rallies are being hyped by the police to
justify use of violence. We tell them however that the students will not be
cowed by their threats,” he said.
Youth speaks up Meanwhile,
LFS and Youth DARE started to gather a million signatures among the youth and
students last week to push for Arroyo’s resignation. Crisostomo
said the signature campaign will be conducted nationwide by various youth
organizations to “strongly register” the youth’s demand that Arroyo leave her
post immediately. Organizers of
the event said Arroyo learn from the lesson of the city of Jericho in the Bible.
In the story, the Israelites were able to bring down the thick walls of Jericho
by creating noise while encircling the city seven times. With the theme “Let our
voices be heard! Blow the trumpets of justice!,” students, seminarians and
church youth also held a series of noise barrage to call on Arroyo to
voluntarily leave Malacañang. “Ayaw naming
magmana ng isang kinabukasang madilim at walang pag-asa. Sa mga ipinatupad na
polisiya ni Arroyo sa loob ng apat na taon, hindi niya dininig ang boses ng
kabataan (We don’t want to inherit a bleak and hopeless future. Arroyo’s
policies in her last four years in office did not listen to the youth’s
demands),” Student Christian Movement Chair Dion Carlo Cerrafon said.
“Kailangang
magkaroon ng isang ‘fresh leadership,’ isang demokratikong konseho ng
mamamayan na kakatawan sa iba’t ibang sektor ng lipunan. Ito ang magtitiyak na
maisusulong ang kanilang mga kagyat na kahilingan tulad ng edukasyon, kabuhayan
at iba pang batayang karapatan (We need to have a ”fresh leadership,” a
people’s democratic council which will represent all sectors of society. This
will ensure that our urgent demands like education, livelihood and other basic
rights are met),” Cerrafon said. Bulatlat © 2004 Bulatlat
■
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Among them is Xaviera Vasquez,
a senior high school student from Camp Emilio Aguinaldo High School in Quezon
City and chair of Anakbayan’s high school chapter. Vasquez did attend the Luneta
activity as required by her school but instead of cheering for Arroyo, Vasquez
together with high school members of Anakbayan condemned the “manipulative
tactics” to make high school students’ attendance in the rally mandatory.
“This is pure blackmail. Hindi lang pala siya sinungaling at magnanakaw,
diktador pa” (She’s not just a liar and a thief but also a dictator),
Vasquez said.
Old tactics
“This will also counter Arroyo’s propaganda that the ‘middle forces’ and the
youth have not yet taken their stand,” he explained.
Crisostomo also explained that youth participation is essential to the campaign
for Arroyo’s resignation because gives the movement “fresh perspectives and
bright prospects.”
Different christian youth and church-based organization also held a “Jericho
March” from Sto. Domingo Church to Welcome Rotonda in Quezon City last Friday to
drumbeat the big rally on Monday.