Students Oppose Tuition Increase, Demand Refund

Last November 24, as the people of Manila went out of their houses, schools and offices to welcome boxing champ Manny Pacquiao, students from various colleges and universities also took to the streets for a different reason: to call for a stop to tuition and other fee increases and for a refund in previous increases.

BY ZOFI LEAL
Bulatlat

The nation’s scholars at the Nov. 24 rally in Diliman PHOTO BY ARKIBONG BAYAN

Last November 24, as the people of Manila went out of their houses, schools and offices to congratulate boxing champ Manny Pacquiao, students from various colleges and universities also took to the streets for a different reason: to call for a stop to tuition and other fee increases and for a refund in previous increases. At around 1 p.m. the students assembled in front of the University of Santo Tomas (UST) despite the drizzle and heat of the sun. They marched toward Morayta but had a brief stand off with the police. The students were able to assemble in front of the Far Eastern University (FEU) along Morayta.  The program started at 2 p.m. There were songs, dances and even a dramatization of the plight of the youth and students under Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s regime.

The street served as the stage for the program. There was a broken toilet bowl in the middle of the stage. As the dramatization progressed, broken chairs, a wooden window, a dirty sink and other items were shown symbolizing the condition of school facilities due to the government’s low budgetary allocation. Musicians for Peace, a cultural group, used these props as percussion instruments during the program.

The dramatization showed that colleges and universities are profit-oriented and does not serve the students.  Three clowns also performed with bow ties carrying tags that say TFI (tuition fee increase), lab (laboratory) fee increase and campus repression.  They were accompanied by a character depicting Arroyo and a fire-breathing military official.

Even the speakers had their own performances before delivering their message.  Paolo Alfonso, University Student Council (USC) chair of the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman sang before explaining the plight of UP students. UP is set to have a 300 percent increase in its tuition. Alfonso added that the UP administration is withholding the release of the printing funds of the Philippine Collegian, the official student publication of UP.

Hiyas Garduce explained the plight of the high school students through a poem. She was accompanied by Rael, another high school student who called on the youth to fight for their rights and to create their own future. He said that the hope for a better future under the current regime is dim and that the youth must not rely on the empty promises of Macapagal-Arroyo.

The students mobilized to call for the full refund of the increase in tuition and other school fees, citing that CHED Memorandum Order No. 14 is illegal as declared by the House of Representatives Committee on Technical and Higher Education (CTHE) as it goes against the very mandate of CHED to regulate tuition.

Since the ruling of CTHE, the Refund Now alliance was created by the National Union of Students in the Philippines (NUSP), College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP) and Kabataan Party to monitor the tuition and other fee increases in schools.

Raymond Palatino of Kabataan Party stressed the need for the youth and students to unite and fight for their right to quality education.

In the University of the East (UE) in Recto and Caloocan, a partial refund is already being availed by students. The refund is due to the 8.5 percent increase in tuition, which is more than the 7.6 percent set by CHED. However, the Kapit Bisig Party Alliance in UE stressed that UE students are still calling for the full refund.

By 4 p.m., the police ordered the students to stop the program. However, the students continued until the program was finished. After the closing messages and closing song, the students marched toward España for an organized dispersal. Bulatlat

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