well, this would be my third attempt to be really involved in blogging. i always have difficulty in keeping entries coming. i hope this would last. it would be difficult for me to copy my other entries in my other accounts so im letting go of them. maybe someday i'll have time to put them here.
in my previous blog i want to write because writing is already to choose. and i think it remains true for my reason in keeping the interest in blogging. to baptize my wordpress account i am posting the press release i've written for the nude protesters at morayta.
(i hope i can learn how to upload pictures in the most immediate time. i have pictures not seen in the newspapers.hehehe)
ALYANSA NG NAGKAKAISANG LAKAS NG KABATAAN
Naked Reality of the Education Sector
Last 2005, the ALYANSA ng Nagkakaisang Lakas ng Kabataan bared the real state of the Philippine education by staging a nude protest higlighting the continuous decline of the sector. ALYANSA assailed the two decade old deregulated status of education and laments on the financing problem in education due to misprioritization of the government. ALYANSA firmly holds that the growing number of 14.6 million out-of-school youth in the country must take actions to regain their right to education.
ALYANSA declares the first of June as a Youth Day of Mass Action for out-of-school-youth in view of asserting rights to education. To magnify the protest actions, ALYANSA chapters in Davao, General Santos City, Zamboanga City and National Capital Region will simultaneously espose their bodies with callings of education for all.
Undressing the Education Budget
The group again lambasted the meager budget allocated to the education sector in comparison to the debt servicing which takes almost 40% of the national budget. The outstanding debt continues to grow at a fast rate amounting to Ph P5.8 trillion through the Automatic Approriation Law that compromises other social services such as education.
"Education deserves more from this government. The globally accepted benchmark for education investment is at least 5% of the gross national product while the Philippines invests only 2.7% of its GNP to education" explains Joboy Tecson, ALYANSA National Chairperson.
ALYANSA also condemn teh allocation for state university and colleges sharing an insufficient PhP 12 billion causing problems in the public education system amidst the exodus of students from private higher education institutions to SUC's.
Exposing the Tuition Increase Issues
"The CHED memorandum No. 14 is an insult to young people who can't access education. It further robs us of our right to education" said Jehhan Silva, ALYANSA National Secretary General.
The organization believes that CHED memorandum No. 14 amplifies the incapacity of the government to control tuition increase due to its action of providing ceiling cap of 7.6% inflation rate base. It is an action that provides private higher education institutions to unilaterally increase tuition without due process of consultation to all stakeholders of a university.
"While education reamins a bleak hope for young people in the community, this inutile Commission stifles the capacity of students to enroll this next semester due to tuition increase that will add up to the amassing number of out-of-school youth without access to education" added Ms. Silva.
Call to Action
ALYANSA calls on young people to strip off the nake believed efforts of this Arroyo government in addressing the eductaion issues. The naked truth is that this Arroyo government's political survival remains its top priority over basic services. This is reflective to the priority of the government highly seen in its national budget and policies.
"We believe that under the Arroyo Administration education will suffer more because her survival is he rpriority. the youth doesn't have any hopes under her Administration thus it makes it legitimate to call for her ouster" ended Mr. Tecson
