PNoy gets unsolicited ‘report’ from student leaders

He was in the middle of his report summing up his first 100 days in office. But at one point, it was President Benigno Aquino III who was obliged to listen to another kind of report: a very loud feedback from student leaders who bluntly told him that education seemed to be dropping off from his administration’s priorities. On Thursday at La Consolacion College, the President was about to answer a question from a uniformed soldier when four students, all from the University of the Philippines Manila (UPM), stood up with slogans printed on bond-paper placards in their hands, and started shouting the same slogans that students chanted in street protests these past weeks: a bigger budget for education. Their chants echoed: “Libro, hindi bala! (Books, not bullets)", “Edukasyon, hindi gera! (Education, not war)" and “Budget cut sa SUC, tutulan, labanan, ‘wag pahintulutan! (Reject budget cuts on state universities and colleges)" Aquino was visibly surprised, but only momentarily. One of the students, Cesarie Ann Santos, told Aquino directly that if he indeed looks at the people as his boss, as he stated in his popular State of the Nation Address, he should then listen to what the people have to say. Santos is the chairperson of the UPM-University Student Council (USC), and by her side were other UPM student leaders: Mark Panganiban and Christine Bangug also of the USC, and Tessa Trazona of the militant youth group Anakbayan. All four, according to a GMA News report, were invited to attend Aquino’s 100-day report, and were not outside protestors who gate-crashed the activity. A release on the website of the Office of the President (OP) hours after the incident said Aquino “calmly handled the rude interruption" as he “listened and heard" the four students. A report by GMA News’ Michael Fajatin on “24 Oras", however, showed that efforts were made to mute the students’ protest. Background music started blaring from the sound system, apparently to drown out the students’ voices. Members of the Presidential Security Group took away their flimsy placards and escorted them out of the hall.
After they were led out, Aquino explained to the audience that contrary to what the protestors said, education remains among the government’s priorities in light of its increased budget allocation. “Huwag nating kalimutang ‘yung edukasyon, ‘di lang naman yung CHED, ‘yung tertiary level. Meron ding DepEd na kasama, meron ding TESDA. Baka pwedeng tingnan kung gaano kalaki ang inilaki ng budget ng DepEd para maalala natin na ‘di pinapabayaan ang edukasyon," the President said. (Let us not forget that education not only includes the tertiary level under the Commission on Higher Education. It also includes the Department of Education and Technical Education and Skills Development Administration. Please see how substantially the DepEd budget was increased, so we are reminded that education is not being neglected.) The budget allocation for education was actually increased from P175 billion in 2010 to the proposed P207.3 billion for 2011 being deliberated in Congress, the OP release said. Santos, however, maintained that funds for SUCs stand to be slashed by some P400 million, while the UP System, the country’s premier state university composed of several autonomous units, may incur a total budget cut of P1.39 billion — the biggest in the university’s history. “Kami ay inimbitahan para saksihan ang ‘pag-uulat’ ng Pangulo. Gayunman, nakita naming higit sa pagsaksi ang kailangan naming gawin. At higit sa lahat, hindi sinasagot ng naturang 'ulat' ang mga panawagan ng kabataan at mamamayan para sa tunay na pagbabago," Santos said in her Facebook note, which was also posted on the website of the National Union of Students of the Philippines. (We were invited to witness the President’s report. However, we felt we needed to do more than just be witnesses. Most importantly, his report does not address the calls of the youth and the people for genuine change.) President Aquino, keeping his poise as if nothing happened, continued with the question-and-answer portion of his report after the incident. But militant youth groups apparently were not content to leave the issue at that. In a post-protest statement, Anakbayan spokesperson Charisse Bañez dismissed Malacañang's claim of respecting freedom of expression just because the four protestors were not arrested and mauled, as what often occurred under the previous Arroyo administration. “The incident actually highlights the elitism of the Aquino administration. The students were spared because they were well-dressed and came from a respectable university. But when faced with the urban and rural poor, police brutality is the only response from Noynoy," Bañez said. Malacañang nevertheless acknowledged the impact of the students’ townhall protest. “It was the loudest feedback President Aquino ever received in his 100 days in office and like what he vowed to do for the rest of his term, [he] listened and heard them well," the OP release said.—JV, GMANews.TV