By Camille Marie Ponce
Student leaders from the
Released were Ferrin Louise Soriano, 19; Chaser Soriano, 19, president of Central Student Council; Judy Anne Fabito, 19; Piem Canela, 18; and Abriel Mansilungan, 20. These students were detained to Manila Police District after being accused of stealing chairs which they brought to the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) during a protest rally against to the PUP administration’s proposal of tuition increase of 2000%, from P12 per unit to P200 last week.
Kabataan Partylist, National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP), College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP), Student Christian Movement of the Philippines (SCMP) and other youth groups in the Philippines, who vigorously campaigns for youth and students’ interests and demands concerning education gathered in front of the Manila Police District to cry out their support for the 5 students who were arrested as they shout “Edukasyon, edukasyon, karapatan ng mamamayan!” and chants such as “Education not for sale, we are not for sale”.
Charisse Banez, student regent of the University of the Philippines (UP) also had a statement during the protest rally, “Yung mga naging pagkilos ng mga estudyante noong mga nakaraang araw, hindi naman natin ito ginagawa sa pang-araw-araw nating buhay,”(the protest actions (referring to the “so called violent protest in PUP) for the past few days are not the kind of protest we do regularly) she explained, “Kaya tumutuloy sa mga ganong pagkakataon dahil merong pundamental na mali sa sistema ng edukasyon na meron tayo sa kasalukuyan at ito ay nangangailangan ng militanteng pagkilos ng mga kabataan upang tutulan ang pagtaas ng matrikula,” (we were just pushed to do such because of the kind of education system existing in the country, we needed to take action in order to prevent the tuition increase) she added.
Despite the release of the 5 PUP students, National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP) President Einstein Recedes said that this does not mark the end of their protests. “Kahit po palayain sila ay hindi pa rin tapos ang laban nating mga kabataan. Magpapatuloy ang ating pakikibaka para sa mas mataas na budget sa edukasyon na siyang pangunahing dahilan kung bakit pinopropose ang tuition fee and other fee increase,” (Even after they were released, youth will still continue fighting and demanding for a bigger education budget which was the reason for the proposal of tuition and other fees increase) he concluded.
