“The rollback?”

No action! I mean it’s pretty obvious. In fact we could have increased tuition this year because the approval of the board last year allowed for adjustment of tuition based on inflation… I really don’t know why they’re saying rollback when it’s not part of [President Arroyo’s] directive.

Tags: education, tuition increase, UP Centennial, UP President

It’s quite interesting how the start of the school season seems to be the signal for the administration to open the floodgates for the barrage of pro-administration propaganda. Suddenly, all sorts of tarpaulins harping the President’s so-called economic achievements and proclaiming empty slogans of prosperity have proliferated all across the metropolis, alongside posters bearing “Pilipinas kong mahal!” I was on the LRT 2 a few days back and I noticed how huge print ads have been set-up at the stations with large imposing pictures of the President and the words katarungan and ekonomiya beside her, in bold letters. These are, of course, in addition to the other pro-Arroyo print advertisements on national dailies and anti-militant advertisements on TV.

Also, in an effort to water down discontent and dissent among the people, the administration has been giving token dole-outs left and right, from electric bill subsidies, fertilizer subsidies, and scholarships. All of which are one-time, and of course temporary. Thus, the obvious motive for such is not to seek to change what’s inherently wrong in the prevailing order but is to simply quiet down and dupe the masses in a time where crises in basic commodities and social services have become unbearable, and in a time when such crises could spark another wave of anti-administration demonstrations.

No amount of bribes in the form of ultra-temporary financial reliefs nor rampant government propaganda will fool the people or solve their hunger and discontent. What we need are higher state subsidies and government regulation of basic industries and social services. Lest we forget, calls of accountability transparency amidst billion-peso corruption scandals are still being ignored.

What I’m also trying to say is that the proliferation of government propaganda at a time when millions of Filipino students are about to return and reconvene in schools across the country is a recognition of the power of the youth movement in social change.

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Tags: education, food shortage, Gloria Arroyo, Jun Lozada, propaganda, Youth Act Now, youth sector

The banner headline of the Philippine Daily Inquirer today caught me off-guard. “GMA: No to Tuition Hike.” What a spin that was!

It was simply that, a press gimmick. What makes her statement entirely preposterous is that in the first place, it is her administration’s long standing policy to direct state colleges and universities (SUC’s) to tighten their belts and increase fees and other self-generating income procedures (Long Term Higher Education Development Plan 2010). It was also her administration’s directive policy to lift the tuition increase cap on private educational institutions, hence opening the floodgates of incessant increases in tuition across the country. It’s because of her why tuition and other fees have been increasing rampantly the past years.

And what purpose will this statement serve? It doesn’t make sense. Private and state universities have already increased tuition months and years ago. Various fee increases in state colleges and universities have already been implemented under her administration. Students have already been forced to pay their fees. Unless the President’s directive is retroactive, which it is apparently not, it’s an empty gimmick. Unless she orders for a tuition rollback, the directive is useless.

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Tags: education, Gloria Arroyo, media, political dissent, propaganda, tuition increase, youth sector