UP students stage walkout over budget cuts

Students from the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman on Wednesday walked out of their classrooms in protest of the budget cut on state universities and colleges in the 2012 budget. A report by GMA News' Mark Salazar on GMA News TV's "Balitanghali" program said UP president Alfredo Pascual, UP college deans, professors, and faculty members have issued a "unity statement" supporting the student's protest actions. According to Salazar's report, the proposed 2012 budget for over 110 state universities and colleges was slashed by almost P1.1 billion from P21 billion this year to just around P20 billion next year. A UP student, identified only in the report as "Jason," said professors in all of the subjects he was attending allowed them to participate in the walkout. Jason claimed he had his parents' blessings in taking part in the movement. The report did not immediately say how many students took part in the walkout. "Sa kasalukuyan kasi, kapag natuloy ang budget cut sa UP, mapipilitan pong tumaas ang tuition, kaya mahihirapan po ang magulang ko na pag-aralin ako dito," he said. Jason said "dilapidated" laboratories in the College of Science and low salaries for school employees remain the biggest problems facing UP due to the school's small budget. The UP walkout is expected to be staged for three days until Friday. Wednesday's demonstration is set to culminate in a fashion show in front of the Palma Hall or the "AS steps" later in the day, dubbed "Budget Couture." UP Manila students are expected to do a similar walk-out from Thursday to Friday.

Second day of protest at PUP Over at another state-run tertiary school, the Polytechnic University of the Philippines, students, teachers, administrators, and other school employees took part in a traditional military-style "boddle fight" where they shared rice and tuyo, which they called "traditional food for the oppressed." "The event aims to inform the administration that their reserved funds for Polytechnic University of the Philippines to support its 60 thousand student populace is not enough—as well as the other state colleges and universities," said Pauline Gidget Estella, national deputy secretary general of the College Editors Guild of the Philippines. The bodle fight was a "symbolic ceremony that pictures how the government represses the right for education of every Filipino by cutting their budget and prioritizing unnecessary actions," the CEGP said. The protesters particularly criticized the government for allocating only a P737-million budget for PUP, far from what they said was the P2 billion that the school would need. On Tuesday, thousands of PUP students also staged a similar walk-out from their classrooms in Sta. Mesa campus in Manila. On the same day, UP Diliman students also held a "freeze mob" and a noise barrage around the campus, while members of different fraternities organized a unity jogging against budget cuts. UP Manila students, wearing "We Are On Strike" shirts, meanwhile staged flashdance and die-in protest actions along Padre Faura Street. On Friday, students from all over Metro Manila are expected to march toward the Don Chino Roces (formerly Mendiola) Bridge in Manila. — with Mark Merueñas/RSJ, GMA News