USC Statement: The Iskolar ng Bayan in the Thick of Crises

Last June 20, 2008, the story of a freshman Chemistry major who dropped out on the third day of his classes found its way in the pages of the Philippine Daily Inquirer. The Letter to the Editor was written by a professor in the UP Math Department who was dismayed to find out that his student dropped out because he was assigned to bracket C of the restructured Socialized Tuition and Financial Assistance Program (STFAP), which in consequence would require him to pay P600 per unit.

Sadly, our fellow Iskolar ng Bayan’s situation has become more common in UP since the Board of Regents approved the 300% tuition and other fee increases (TOFI) last 2006, despite the lack of comprehensive consultation from the students and the absence of the Student and Faculty Regents in the meeting.

More alarming, however, is how common our fellow Iskolar ng Bayan’s plight is in this country. According to the CHED, 11 million Filipinos aged 6-24 years old or just over one-third of those in that age bracket have stopped going to school. The Commission adds that for this school year alone, approximately a million school-going Filipinos have had to drop out.

Should we be surprised? After all, as the prices of basic goods like rice, bread, canned goods, vegetables, meat, fish, petroleum products, transportation, and electricity skyrocket to record-highs, the Filipino family’s budget for sustaining their children’s education has virtually disappeared.

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UN FAO), families in developing countries, such as the Philippines, spend 60% of their budget on food alone. Moreover, the IBON Foundation cites that the poorest 30% of the Philippine population spends even more than that. When the cost of staple foods rises, therefore, the poor are the first to suffer. So when both the cost of staple foods and education simultaneously increase, it is nothing but a recipe for disaster for the 65 million Filipinos living below the P112/day poverty line.

Dole-outs in the form of rice and other subsidies do nothing to address the real causes of spiraling poverty and diminishing access to education in the Philippines. Many groups have insisted that a P125 across-the-board wage hike and the scrapping of VAT are realistic measures the government can take to provide instant relief to those hardest hit by the prevailing economic crisis.

Last year, the government allotted a miserable 2.66% of the GNP for education – once again, nowhere near the minimum of six percent set by UNESCO Delors Commission for developing countries. Since 1998, when the education budget peaked at 3.8%, the government has continuously and deliberately decreased public spending on education in line with its commitment to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and its Structural Adjustment Program (SAP). The IMF’s SAP encourages governments with massive foreign debt to reduce spending on social services so as to increase allocation for debt servicing. Certainly, a look at the Philippine budget in the last eight years clearly illustrates how compliant the government has been to the SAP: giving more than half of the pie to pay off debts and leaving so little to care for the physical and mental well-being of the Filipino people.

Since 2001, President Arroyo with her administration has done nothing substantial to re-appropriate government spending and genuinely prioritize education. On the contrary, she has aggressively pushed for the full realization of the SAP through the Long Term Higher Education Development Plan (LTHEDP), which aims to make 70% of all State Universities fiscally autonomous by raising their tuition fees to private-school-level by 2010. She has also refused to do anything to alleviate the impact of oil price hikes and instead continues to implement E-VAT to the further detriment of Filipinos.

In light of all these, we demand for: the immediate rollback of the tuition increase amidst a worsening economic crisis; the junking of the UP’s most recent tuition policy (automatic tuition increase based on inflation, tuition increase to augment government subsidy, restructured STFAP), without prejudice to further investigation of the STFAP; and the increase of state subsidy for education. These are but some of the many genuine steps towards providing economic relief to all iskolars ng bayan. These are crucial steps so that families today and in the future no longer have to choose between spending for food or spending for education.

As Iskolars ng Bayan, we must analyze these social and economic issues besieging our country beyond the comfortable confines of the academe. We cannot afford to ignore the widespread hardship, which the majority of the Filipino people are barely enduring, because sooner rather than later it will affect us all – and the UP Chemistry freshman’s story will be too commonplace to be on the news.

Roll back 300% tuition increase!
Junk UP’s newest tuition policy!
Push for a comprehensive review of the STFAP!
Increase government spending on education!
Reform the Philippine educational system!

USC Statement on the AS Walk Rumble

It is unfortunate that fraternity violence, in whatever form, persists despite the high ideals for which fraternities are founded.

It is even more unfortunate that in our University—touted as the training ground for the best and the brightest young minds of the country, bastion of academic freedom and excellence, and home of no less than the Iskolar ng Bayan—fraternity violence has remained so deeply ingrained in its traditions.

As we celebrate our 100 years of existence, we lament this decades-long tradition, and stand witness to yet another of its incidents.

Yesterday morning, the Beta Sigma fraternity reportedly attacked the Alpha Phi Omega fraternity at their tambayan along AS walk. The attack led to a violent rumble between the two fraternities. Professor Agerico de Villa of the Philosophy Department of CSSP attempted to stop the ensuing rumble but was allegedly kicked while doing so. As a result, five members of Beta Sigma were arrested, three were brought to UP-PGH while four members of APO were given stitches.

These incidents are not uncommon and, after all the resulting deaths and casualties, we in the University Student Council have realized that to condemn the act is nothing more than an exercise in futility. It appears that, from the failure of fraternities to arrest the rampancy of fraternity violence, the call falls only on deaf ears.

And so from this day on, we no longer condemn merely the acts of violence but the actors, the active participants who, despite being among the privileged few who were chosen to become Iskolars ng Bayan, failed to exercise good judgment and circumspection, and flagrantly flouted university rules, much less, basic decorum. We condemn the instigators who were expected, but failed greatly, to conduct themselves as gentlemen not only because such is inscribed in their fraternities’ tenets but because such is expected from a scholar of the people. Lastly, we condemn the fraternities that find themselves constantly embroiled in these incidences, for their failure to uphold the ideals of brotherhood and for tolerating these criminal acts. For any incident of rumble or hazing that takes place, is a sad testament to their failure to curb a pattern of violence that has ripened into an ugly tradition that indelibly smear fraternities as student institutions and the name of our University.

We urge the witnesses to cooperate with the administration, in order to bring the perpetrators of this incident to justice. We urge the UP administration to identify and prosecute fully and swiftly all the active participants- -those who attacked and those who retaliated, while observing their respective rights to due process.

Nearly ten months have passed since the last incident of fraternity violence that resulted in the death of one of our students. There has been no progress in the prosecution of the Cris Mendez case and we, in the University Student Council believe, that this is due largely to the undue observance of technical rules of procedure that hamper substantial justice. In light of this, we call for the continued review and eventual revision of policies in relation to fraternities, sororities and organizations, particularly the highly judicialized rules of procedure in the Student Disciplinary Tribunal.

In turn, we extend our services to the administration and to the witnesses. We guarantee that we will cooperate and assist in the investigation, that we will ensure that the rights of those accused will be observed, that we will extend protection to the witnesses who will come forward and that we will take steps and attempt to reconcile the differences of the erring fraternities.

We likewise urge all fraternities, sororities and organizations to exercise restraint in similar situations, and to observe at all times, the rules set by the administration governing their conduct.

It is high time for these Greek-letter fraternities, premised on excellence and service, to set aside their differences and work collectively to finally put an end to fraternity violence.

Lastly, we urge the UP studentry to remain vigilant and to continue to renounce all acts of fraternity violence against fellow iskolars ng bayan.

Vinzons Hall, 25 June 2008

Containing the C-RICE-SIS: Official Statement of the CSSP Student Council

For the past weeks, we have seen the dramatic surge in the prices of local commodities, particularly that of rice, our country’s staple food. The Bureau of Agricultural Statistics recently stated that the price of Well Milled Rice (WMR) has rapidly increased from last week’s 30.64/kg to its current price of 32.18/kg. Furthermore, last year’s original price amounts to only 24.14/kg, hence indicating a sudden increase of 35.68% within the year. These numbers have translated into increased alarm and distress among the people, particularly among those who live with meager salaries and limited access to resources. Manifestation of such has been observed from private groups who dazedly hoard stocks for their own benefit, to families who continually crowd markets, in hope of availing cheap NFA rice. These, along with other imminent setbacks from the agricultural sector point that indeed, a problem exists – a point of conflict, which, if not given necessary attention, may lead to further political turmoil and deep social unrest.

The problem, although wide in scope, may principally be rooted in the ineffectiveness of our local institutions to carry out correspondingly viable solutions. While we acknowledge the far-reaching adverse effects of some global phenomena such as climate change and increased consumption, we must also highlight the problems of our local agricultural sector. The inadequacy of irrigation systems, the lack of commercialized rice seedlings and the alarming decrease in the number of fertile lands continue to persist. Moreover, the government’s inability to strengthen the NFA results to the perpetuating collusion of private companies, who monopolize the rice industry. These problems remain unaddressed mainly because of the fact that the agricultural sector, up to now, receives insufficient budget from the government.

We, the CSSP Student Council 2008-2009, believe that measures should have been taken to lessen the grave impacts we are suffering as a consequence of this rice shortage. On the local level, agricultural policies should have been implemented properly not only to sustain our domestic needs for food but more so to ensure the welfare of our farmers. Consequently, we call not only for a comprehensive agrarian reform program but ultimately, for a genuine agrarian reform law – one that will best serve the interests of the farmers rather than that of the landlords, who for years, have resorted to desperate ways to maintain hold on their properties. Also, government agencies must be sufficiently empowered in order for them to actually carry out their respective functions. Globally, we urge the government to review and evaluate existing trade agreements, along with the country’s current status with the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. National interest must be the core consideration of our legislators, not the selfish motives and interests of the few.

The problem is not simply about having less food to eat, nor is it just about lacking a basic commodity; the problem is about how this issue has pervaded through the social, cultural and economic spheres of our society. As students of a college that prides itself in its long tradition of critical thinking and active involvement, we ought to take the crucial first steps towards awareness and participation. From the simplest deed of finishing our food, to the act of calling for a more responsible government, we can respond to the issue. By simply recognizing our roles as scholars for the country, we can make a difference.

¹ Bureau of Agricultural Statistics <http://www.bas.gov.ph/amsad_price1.php>

Rice Against the Crisis!

The University Student Council believes that the present crisis on rice production demands for immediate, sustainable pro-people solutions. The government should immediately increase its support to the National Food Authority (NFA) in its procurement of palay, dismantle the rice cartels and impose a crack down on illegal acts of price manipulation, implement a moratorium on the land-use conversion of agricultural land, and increase its investment in the agricultural sector, all for the benefit our local farmers and the Filipino people.

NFA, at present, is importing rice because it has persistently failed to perform even its minimal procurement of 12% of the total palay production. NFA has only procured less than 1% of palay production in the last cropping season, leaving most of the tradable rice into the hands of big rice traders, particularly the so-called Big Seven cartel who now dictates the price of rice in the market. The reduced role and intervention of the NFA in the rice market allows private traders to control the trade both in inputs and produce, thus influencing the movement of prices in trade and marketing of rice.

We must resist impositions made by international creditors like the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank to bring down rice tariffs, increase food importation and pursuing reforms to liberalize trading in the country’s main staple by not subsidizing the agricultural sector. Policies of globalization on rice, i.e. trade liberalization (allowing rice imports), privatization (clipping NFA powers), and deregulation (lifting of government production and price support), which the government started to implement in the 1980s, has worsened the state of food security, not only in the Philippines, but in the rest of the world. Such schemes of deregulation also lead to the oil cartel which continues to manipulate and bloat the prices of oil products. To the youth, such policy of liberalization has also lead to the increasing commercialization of education by reducing the government subsidy to education.

Rice production remains small-scale and productivity is low. Philippine average rice yield per hectare is stagnant. Since the 1990s, the country’s rice yield has averaged at 3 metric tons per hectare even as it records yearly increases in production. According to the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), the required production for the Philippines to sustain food security is 5.4 metric tons per hectare. This situation is even aggravated by the increasing instances of conversion of rice farms to commercial uses and conversion of crops from rice to export winners, which has put the country in constant state of crisis in its rice supply. Landlessness and the absence of government support through production and price subsidies leave millions of Filipino rice farmers at the mercy of big land owners and traders. That is why for a long-term solution to this predicament, a genuine agrarian reform must be implemented.

Furthermore, the government has practically stopped subsidizing local agriculture for decades, and can be seen from the meager budget allocations received by the agricultural sector. We see the same trends with the increasing budget cuts that UP and other state universities in the country that has lead these universities to resort to different commercialization schemes and to increase in tuition. Worse, the funds intended for these sectors and other social services are being drained off to corruption.

The increasing inaccessibility of our basic staple and of education has made the lives of many Filipino youths and their families harder and the opportunity to make their lives better difficult to reach. With the increase in the price of rice, other basic needs will relentlessly increase in cost, thus making the lives of many Filipinos increasingly more difficult.

The chronic crisis that the Filipinos at the grass roots level and even the middle-class has been experiencing is simply a manifestation of a grave failure in leadership under the Arroyo administration. If such demands and solutions to the rice crisis are not met immediately, it is only imperative for the youth and the rest of the Filipino people to continue the people’s urgent call for the removal of Gloria Arroyo from office.

Fight for greater state subsidy for education and agriculture!
Attend the “RICE Against the CRISIS” Forum on April 30! Alcantara Room, 2nd floor Vinzons Hall, 1 PM
Join the Labor Day Mobilization on May 1! Assembly at Quezon Hall, 11 AM

Sources:
Asian Development Bank
Ibon Foundation
International Rice Research Institute (IRRI)
World Bank

(Prepared by the University Student Council’s (USC) People’s Struggles Committee under Councilor Fudge Tajar with inputs and reports from other members of the USC).

Statement of Support for 11 SE Students’ Call for Due Process

To The University Council:

“No person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of the law, nor shall any person be denied equal protection of the law.”[1]

The case of the eleven graduating students undergoing disciplinary proceedings before the Student Disciplinary Tribunal for charges of cheating is yet to be resolved. The administration of the School of Economics have decided to prevent them for graduating as they await, for an indeterminable period, the final resolution of the case.

The students stand to lose more if they are prevented from graduating and subsequently found innocent, than the university if the students are later found guilty. Although commencement exercises are but a formal ceremony, it nonetheless is not an ordinary occasion, since such ceremony is the educational institution’ s way of announcing to the whole world that the students included in the list of those who will be conferred a degree during the baccalaureate ceremony have satisfied all the requirements for such degree.[2]They will not only be deprived of their right to attend their much awaited graduation, but will be stigmatized before their future colleagues. They will likewise be prevented from seeking immediate employment, and effectively, from getting on with their lives.

Under the rules, every student undergoing disciplinary proceedings shall not be subjected to any disciplinary penalty except upon due process of law[3]and that pending final decision on any charges the said student shall enjoy all his rights and privileges as a student.[4]

It is in this regard that we, the members of the University Student Council, urge the University Council to allow the eleven students from the School of Economics participate in the commencement exercises on April 25, in accordance with the rights set forth in the Rules and Regulations on Student Conduct and Discipline.

We likewise urge the Board of Regents to convene and amend the rules, setting forth guidelines in order to protect the rights of graduating students with unresolved cases, and to ensure the speedy disposition of these proceedings.

Due process, we must not forget, is not merely a high ideal that we seek to uphold but a right to which everyone is entitled. It is guaranteed by no less than our country’s constitution and reaffirmed by the very rules which students adhere to and which the university is mandated to protect.

[1] Section 1, Article III, 1987 Philippine Constitution
[2] University of the East vs.Jader, G.R. No. 132344 (2000)
[3] id Section 22, paragraph a
[4] id Section 22, paragraph c