UP students walkout from classes
Hundreds of student from University of the Philippines – Diliman walked out their classes to assert their dissatisfaction at the current educational system.
On Friday, July 16 2010, as part of the nationwide movement called the National Day of Action for Education, student leaders from the Center for Nationalist Studies (CNS) in UP organized a march to Mendiola Avenue. At around 10:40 am, about a hundred students attended the program conducted in the Palma Hall Lobby in preparation for the march. In the program, representatives from different campus organizations took turns in speaking their cause; among the speakers the recently tenured Professor Sarah Raymundo.
“Nung isang araw lang inaprubahan ang 37 lab fee increase (Just the other day the 37 lab fee increases were approved)”, Professor Raymundo stressed, “Kailangan natin ng edukasyon na makabayan, siyentipiko at makamasa (We need an education that is nationalistic, scientific and publicly accessible).”
Among the organizations who participated in the mobilization are members of League of Filipino Students (LFS), Anakbayan UP, Kabataan Partylist, UP Student Catholic Action, Agham Youth, STAND- UP, UP Repertory, Upsilon Sigma Phi fraternity.
The concerns stressed in the protest include the Tuition and Other Fees Increase of 2006, commercialization and privatization of land areas in the university, and Representatives from different academic departments also raised their individual concerns such as from the College of Mass Communications and the sudden increase of lab fees from the College of Engineering.
“Kung gusto talaga ni [President Aquino] ipatupad ang kanyang plataporma, [tatanggaling niya ang mga katiwalian] ni [President] Gloria (If President Aquino really wants to carry out his platforms he will have to eliminate President Gloria’s corrupt policies).”, spoke Lawrence Co, chairperson of the UP Center for Nationalist Studies.
Clad in red, the student protesters picketed around the buildings in UP and afterwards proceeded to march towards Mendiola Avenue, passing through Espana Street, Tomas Morayta and Recto Avenues in Manila. They were later joined by students from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines, University of Santo Tomas, and the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila. Likewise, in observation of the National Day of Action, students of UP Los Banos, UP Cebu and other picketed their respective government and educational institutions this day.
A similar protest was also held on July 10 of last year during the oil price crisis.
