Students of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) in Manila walked out of their classes last Friday, March 19, 2010, to protest the impending implementation of the almost 2,000% tuition increase in the largest state university in the country. Agitated students set to flames decades-old and dilapidated armchairs to show their disgust and anger at the school administration and the government for its apparent state abandonment of higher education. PUP is one of the country’s 111 state universities and colleges, funded largely by the Philippine government to provide accessible tertiary education to young Filipinos.

PUP, at present, charges only P12 per unit from its students, the lowest among state-run schools, aside from various miscellaneous fees. The affordable rate of tuition makes the university accessible to more than 50,000 new students at any given year, many of whom come from families of ordinary wage earners, rank and file employees, overseas workers and peasants.

Over the past years, the government has neglected providing sufficient subsidy to state universities and colleges. The budget for all state universities and colleges this year was slashed by P3.2 billion pesos from last year despite increasing enrollment in the country’s public tertiary educational institutions. This meant that the government will be providing less per college student this year than ever before, forcing school administrations to resort to commercial income-generating measures including the privatization of university services, and the raising tuition and other fees collected from students.

The trend follows the government’s neoliberal policies in education and other social services, such as the Long Term Higher Education Development Plan (LTHEDP) as prescribed by its foreign creditors in order to accommodate debt servicing and dismal government revenues. These policies have directly affected the government’s support to social services and has lead to public schools and hospitals increasing fees for services otherwise provided for by the government for free. This effectively burdens Filipinos, majority of whom remain impoverished, with education and health care they cannot afford.

Only senatorial candidates Liza Maza of Gabriela Satur Ocampo of Bayan Muna have spoken in support of the student protest. Together with the rest of the Makabayan coalition, they also reiterated the call for higher state subsidy for social services and less priority on debt servicing and military spending. It waits to be seen how other national candidates will respond to the tuition hike proposal in PUP and the worsening state of tertiary education in the country. Other candidates, many of whom are beholden to big businessmen or are themselves big businessmen, hesitate to commit to similar promises because it may mean either compromising the country’s commitments to foreign creditors, raising taxes, or compromising their or their backers’ commercial interests in the privatization of public schools and hospitals.

The University of the Philippines, the country’s premiere state university, started the trend by implementing a 300% tuition increase in 2007. Since then, state universities and even private higher educational institutions have proposed raising tuition and other fees based on UP’s model. This year, more than 200+ universities and colleges have submitted their intent to raise tuition for the coming school year. What happens in PUP in the next few days may well set the tone for the rest of the year for the country’s existing and aspiring college students, and the future of public higher education in the country. It is thus imperative for election candidates to take a stand on the PUP tuition hike crisis before it is too late.