Bu-lat-lat (boo-lat-lat) verb: to search, probe, investigate, inquire; to unearth facts Volume III, Number 49 January 18 - 24, 2004 Quezon City, Philippines |
Youth
Party Calls for Tuition Hike Freeze Sixty
years since Wenceslao Vinzons’ Young Philippines was founded, a new sectoral
party has risen to represent the country’s youth in Congress. Anak ng Bayan,
the only youth sectoral party accredited by the Comelec, vows to push its
electoral agenda on education, campus press freedom, employment and other youth
concerns. By
Emily Vital This
time, the youth will no longer serve as a mere machinery of big politicians for
elections or as a sectoral vote to be exploited on election day. The youth,
through its only sectoral party Anak ng Bayan (AnB - people’s youth), will
field its own nominees in the party list elections this May. Anak
ng Bayan is the sole youth party accredited by the Commission on Elections (Comelec)
after applying for the party-list elections last Jan. 9. The
party aims to advance the youth’s legislative agenda in Congress, Apolinario
Alvarez, AnB national president said. Legislative agendaAlvarez
said the youth’s legislative agenda revolve around the issue of education,
employment and other youth concerns. “We
presented our most urgent demands a few months before Gloria Macapagal –Arroyo
was installed president in January 2001: a moratorium on tuition increases;
higher subsidy for education; decent employment for the youth and respect for
democratic rights,” Alvarez said. “She
did not lift a finger to address any of these issues.” “We
have learned our lessons. We can no
longer pin our hopes on big politicians who woo us every election period and
dump us when they get into power,” he said. Alvarez
cited some of their priorities if the party gets elected. “As prescribed by
the United Nations, at least six percent of the country’s gross domestic
product should be allotted to education,” he said. This
year, only P15.68 billion is earmarked for 111 state universities and colleges.
Studies show that the Philippine government allots only 2.2 percent of
the GDP for education. He
also cited their demand for a 10-year moratorium on tuition hikes. “Since the
deregulation of tuition in 1982, private educational institutions have managed
to amass millions of profit,” he also said. In
the first semester of 2003 alone, the government Commission on Higher Education
(CHEd) approved the petition for tuition hike of 358 private tertiary schools.
Anak
ng Bayan will also push for the implementation of the Study Now, Pay Later
Program; the repeal of Campus Journalism Act of 1991; and the review of
Education Act of 1982, Higher Education Act of 1991 and other education-related
laws. The
youth party vows to carry forward the politics of hope and struggle. Genuine
youth party Unlike
youth parties led by giant political parties, Anak ng Bayan was formed by the
youth themselves. Founded on June
19, 2001 by former convenors of the Estrada Resign Youth Movement (ERYM), Anak
ng Bayan is the only youth party formed since the pre-World War II Young
Philippines of Wenceslao Vinzon. On
presidentiables Asked
if Anak ng Bayan will endorse any of the presidential aspirants, Alvarez said
the party has yet to hear the program for the youth of the candidates.
“Those who want to get the youth vote must respond to the legitimate
demands of the youth and the people,” he said. However,
Alvarez said the party’s members and supporters have scratched out two
aspirants in their list of choices. He
said they will definitely junk Macapagal-Arroyo and Panfilo Lacson in the 2004
elections. “Ms.
Macapagal’s track record as president gives us not a single reason to even
think about voting her. Another six
years is too much a burden for the youth and the people,” he explained. “Lacson
is known for his grave violation of human rights since the Martial Law era.
He is also involved in many shady deals involving millions of dollars,”
Alvarez said. Bulatlat.com We want to know what you think of this article.
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