Southern Tagalog youth stage 'SOYA' as prelude to SONA

Youth activists from the Southern Tagalog region trooped on Friday to three locations — the House of Representatives, the Commission on Higher Education, and Mendiola— to stage the so-called State of the Youth Address (SOYA). The SOYA is the culmination of a series of protest actions for education which kicked off with a mass walkout by 1,000 students on July 16, in advance of the July 26 State of the Nation Address (SONA) of the President. “We do not want to keep our hopes up with the current administration but we urge Aquino to address the worsening state of education in the country," John Paulo Bautista, regional coordinator of the Kabataan Party-list said. “We will be watchful during the SONA. Aquino’s vow against corruption does not suffice for genuine progress. For his youth ‘bosses,’ he must be able to address the education crisis. Quality and democratic access to education for all is what we need which can only be achieved through allotting higher state subsidy education and other social services," Bautista said. “The nightmares of the Arroyo regime will haunt us for many years; it is a challenge for the youth to become more vigilant, to walk our path with the people and to ensure that Aquino’s ‘daang matuwid’ will not lead us all straight to the edge of a cliff," Bautista said. Meanwhile, Samahan ng Kabataan para sa Bayan (SAKBAYAN), an alliance of student organizations, fraternities and sororities in the University of the Philippines–Los Baños denounced the yearly budget cuts for state universities and colleges (SUCs). Independent think-tank Ibon Foundation reported that the Arroyo administration’s per capita spending for education dropped to P6.85 in 2009 from P7.19 in 1998 during the term of former President Joseph Estrada. SAKBAYAN said the budget cuts have forced school administrators to come up with cost-cutting and income-generating projects, such as the Large Lecture Class Policy in UPLB that drastically converted the normal class size of 20-30 to 160-200 students. “This policy greatly sacrifices the quality of UP education that the premiere state university boasts of," SAKBAYAN Deputy Secretary General Carla Bertulfo said. Under Arroyo’s term, tuition fees in UP increased from P225 to P1,000 per unit in 2007. Bertulfo said former president Gloria Arroyo should be held accountable for allegedly neglecting the youth’s right to free education. “We call on (President Benigno Simeon) Aquino to speed up the prosecution of Arroyo. It was during her term when the youth suffered the most since Marcos." Bautista stressed that the current youth agenda is part of the combined demands of different sectors dubbed as the People’s Agenda. "The youth are not just students; we are farmers, factory workers, teachers, OFWs, human rights victims… We cannot expect Aquino to assure us of decent jobs with proper wages and benefits, genuine land reform and social justice among others, but we will never get tired of demanding whoever is in power to uphold these rights," she said. The Quezon City Police recently declared Mr. Aquino’s residence in Times Street, West Triangle Village, Quezon City as a “No-Rally Zone." Mr. Aquino has decided to stay in his family home temporarily while waiting for the renovation of his official residence near Malacañang. Mr. Aquino has suggested that the SONA rally be held in Quezon Memorial Circle instead of Commonwealth Avenue, where protest actions have always been held by tradition since the time of Marcos. “It’s not a welcome suggestion but an insult to a democratic tradition. Aquino should be reminded that his mother, late President Cory Aquino, was sent to power by the (masses who trooped to the) streets," Bautista said. - VVP, GMANews.TV