Posts tagged with Mong Palatino

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April 15, 2011

Congress hearing on the legislated ban on “No Permit No Exam” policies

House of Representatives Committee Hearing on House Bill 807

Last March 23, 2011, Wednesday, the House of Representatives’ Committee on Higher and Technical Education tackled Kabataan Party-List’s House Bill 807 or the “Anti ‘No Permit No Exam Policy’ Bill.” It is a bill that would prohibit the implementation of the unjust “No Permit No Exam” policy being imposed in many schools, colleges and universities nationwide.

I’ve always believed that such a policy is unjust because it essentially forces the threat of academic delinquency on a student because of the financial capacity of his family. There are other means schools can explore in order to ensure payments of tuition and other fees without imposing prejudice on the academic standing of a student.

(Imagine a scenario where an honor student is dropped from the honor roll simply because his parent’s remittance was delayed due to a natural calamity in the country where the parent works, or a war breaks out there.) We actually received dozens of emails and calls a day last month because of the complaints about the “no permit, no exam” policy.

House of Representatives Committee Hearing on House Bill 807

Majority of the congressmen in attendance favorably affirmed the bill in principle and agreed to have the bill consolidated into a final version with the other bills with a similar purpose. The consolidated version is to be approved on the next hearing. Only the congressman from A Teacher Party-List (which is a misnomer because they obviously represent the private interests of school owners and businessmen) rejected the bill and tried to water it down with so many nonsense insertions. As of the moment there are around thirty (30) congressmen who have signed House Bill 807 as co-authors.

On another note, we were able to successfully get the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to speak about the issue, and in a joint press conference, CHED reiterated their Memo (CMO No. 02-2010) instructing schools through an appeal not to implement the “no permit no exam” policy. It also brought to everyone’s attention Sec. 99 of the Manual for Regulation of Higher Education Institutions which states that “no higher education institution shall deny final examinations to a student who has outstanding financial or property obligations, including unpaid tuition and other school fees corresponding to the school term.”

House of Representatives Committee Hearing on House Bill 807

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April 10, 2011

March 22, 2011

It was the last week of lecture classes for the second semester of our first year in law school. By tradition, we have something special on our last day of lecture class for most of our professors. On Tuesday, we had some sushi in class right after our last lecture in Criminal Law 2.

Earlier, Mong took me to the congressmen’s lounge to have late lunch. He regularly takes one of his staff to the lounge each day to take part of the ‘free buffet’ for congressmen. But we have to wait till 3 PM. I also bumped into Congressman Socrates of Palawan, who is a senior fraternity brother.

Batasang Pambansa's special lounge for Congressmen Batasang Pambansa's special lounge for Congressmen Batasang Pambansa's special lounge for Congressmen Batasang Pambansa's special lounge for Congressmen Last lecture class for Criminal Law 2 Last lecture class for Criminal Law 2 Last lecture class for Criminal Law 2 Last lecture class for Criminal Law 2 Last lecture class for Criminal Law 2 Last lecture class for Criminal Law 2 Last lecture class for Criminal Law 2 Last lecture class for Criminal Law 2 Last lecture class for Criminal Law 2 Last lecture class for Criminal Law 2 Last lecture class for Criminal Law 2 Last lecture class for Criminal Law 2 Last lecture class for Criminal Law 2 Last lecture class for Criminal Law 2 Last lecture class for Criminal Law 2 Last lecture class for Criminal Law 2 Last lecture class for Criminal Law 2 Last lecture class for Criminal Law 2 Last lecture class for Criminal Law 2 Last lecture class for Criminal Law 2 Last lecture class for Criminal Law 2 Last lecture class for Criminal Law 2 Last lecture class for Criminal Law 2 Last lecture class for Criminal Law 2 Last lecture class for Criminal Law 2

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June 22, 2010

Kabataan Partylist Rep’s Oath-Taking

Kabataan Party-List Rep. Raymond 'Mong' Palatino, flanked by his family and national officers of Kabataan Party-List, takes his oath as re-elected Congressman before Senator Francis 'Chiz' Escudero

Last Friday, we had our first nominee, incumbent Congressman Mong Palatino take his oath as re-elected Representative of Kabataan Party-list before Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero, one of the more prominent legislators closest to the youth sector.

It was a short and simple gathering over lunch. Our regional leaders were also present, as we were also holding our National Council meeting during those days.

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December 7, 2009

Kabataan Partylist National Convention

I had almost forgotten to write about our partylist’s national convention. Kabataan Partylist held its national convention last November 17 and 18, 2009. The first day was allotted for a plenary session among delegates from our chapters across the country. The second was a public convention with speeches from guests and performances from cultural organizations, capped off by a concert from a handful of popular bands. More then three thousand students from different schools, residents from various communities and delegates from all over the country filled the UP Bahay ng Alumni that night.

Senatorial candidates Liza Maza & Satur Ocampo were also in attendance to give solidarity messages to the youth. Other politicians also arrived and delivered brief speeches.

In his speech, Kabataan Rep. Mong Palatino laid out a youth agenda for the 2010 elections. From reforms in the education system (increase budget of public schools, universities and colleges, among others) to providing decent employment and protection for the rights of workers, Mong also stressed that good governance should also be a key platform of every candidate, taking off from the myriad of corruption scandals of the Arroyo administration. Mong also reiterated the need to prioritize the needs of the Filipino people over that of foreign interests. He stressed that the youth will make up almost 40% of the votes in the 2010 elections, and that the collective strength of the youth can determine and greatly influence the outcome of the said democratic exercise.

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October 30, 2009

Legality of shortened voter registration questioned in Supreme Court

As youths and new registrants endure long lines to register for the 2010 polls, Kabataan Party-list Rep. Mong Palatino today questioned the legality of the Commission on Election’s shortening of the period of continuing registration up to tomorrow October 31.

Palatino today filed a Petition for Certiorari and Mandamus with Application for Preliminary Mandatory Injunction before the Supreme Court today. The full text of the petition may be read at http://tinyurl.com/yhyqwov.

Other petitioners were Jade Charmane Rose Valenzuela, Jacqueline Alexis Merced, Ana Katrina Tejero, Kenneth Carlisle Earl Eugenio and Victor Louis Crisostomo, all first-time-voters who tried but failed to register due various reasons; and Alvin Peters, president of the National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP), Vijae Alquisola, president of the College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP), Ken Leonard Ramos, chairperson of Anakbayan, and, Ma. Cristina Angela Guevarra, chairperson of the Student Christian Movement of the Philippines (SCMP).

The petitioners stated that the Comelec violated the people’s right to register and, thus, right of suffrage, when it issued and implemented Comelec Resolution No. 8585, dated February 12, 2009, fixing the deadline of application of registration of voters on October 31, 2009, more than two months earlier than is prescribed by Republic Act. No. 8189 or The Voters Registration Act of 1996.

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October 2, 2009

A temporary relief for state universities & colleges

Last Wednesday, the sub-committee hearing the budget of state universities and colleges (SUC’s) unanimously committed to restore the budget to its 2009 level. It means to say that the proposed P3 billion budget cut by the President and the Department of Budget & Management is rejected at the sub-committee level, and the budget for the country’s 110 SUC’s would be back to around P24 billion.

Kabataan Rep. Mong Palatino remarked that this is imperative, as the proposed budget has barely any allocation for SUC’s capital outlay. How then can SUC’s affected by the recent calamities rebuild their schools?

A few days earlier, the DBM released a statement defending the budget cut in response to several protests launched by the National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP). They claimed that the proposed P21 billion budget is sufficient to sustain the services of SUC’s, as they are anyway allowed to generate their own income. What they didn’t say is that this forced income generating policy is done at the expense of students, through tuition and other fee increases. The statement only proves that our analysis as correct, that budget cuts and tuition increases are state policies that harm the future of the youth and the nation.

The motion to restore the P24 billion budget drew cheers from the attending university officials and employees. One state university president, however, remarked that though he was elated by the motion of the congressmen, he feared that it may be another disappointment. Apparently, congressmen, the politicians that they are, have for the past years committed to similar promises of budget increases, only to disappoint SUC’s once the General Appropriations Act is passed. Hopefully, the attending congressmen stay true to their word and maintain the P24 billion commitment–insufficient as it is, is better than the P21 billion budget proposed by the Executive.

It must be stressed, however, that this relief is temporary, as though the sub-committee approved the increase, the same must also be approved by the Committee on Appropriations and the House of Representatives in plenary session. It also has to get the approval of the Senate. Needless to say, it is too soon to be glad about the development.

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Tulong Kabataan‘s relief effort for the victims of tropical storm Ondoy is still ongoing! You may drop off your donations at any of the donation centers in schools across the Metro. You may also donate via Paypal. Or you may go to our headquarters at 118-B Scout Rallos St., Quezon City for volunteer work. The HQ is near GMA Network’s main offices along Timog Avenue.

With your help, Tulong Kabataan was able to hold soup kitchens in some communities a few days ago. Yesterday, we joined Makabayan’s clean-up effort at Tumana, Marikina. Hand in hand, volunteers helped the residents fill up two garbage trucks of debris. Today, there will be a medical mission in Malate. This weekend, if the weather permits, we will push through with the centralization of all relief goods collected from the donation centers and do repacking and distribution to several affected communities.

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September 22, 2009

Budget cut in SUC’s means added burden to students

As the national government continues to cut down spending on the country’s 110 state universities and colleges (SUCs), students carry the burden of the steep cost of higher education, Kabataan Party-list Representative Raymond “Mong” Palatino said.

In the proposed national budget for 2010, allocation for SUCs will be slashed by 13 percent or a whopping P3.2 billion, thus forcing SUCs to generate income mostly from students.

Based on the 2010 National Expenditure Program, bulk of SUCs’ projected income of P10.2 billion will be sourced from tuition fees (P4.59 Billion) and other income from students (2.23 billion).

Palatino said “SUCs are being forced to rely less on government subsidy and more on internally-generated income in the form of tuition and other fees and privatization of assets. Unfortunately, the burden of financing tertiary education is placed on Filipino students, many of whom will be unable to afford it,” Palatino said.

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September 14, 2009

Lobbying through blogging

It was our simple “day-off” together. Some of my co-staff members and I, together with Congressman Mong, went to the opening day of the Cine Europa Film Festival in Shangri-la Mall. We caught the screening of Just Another Love Story, which contrary to its pleasant name, is actually dark and engaging Danish thriller film. Having watched it made me miss the days when almost all I did for school, as a film student in UP, was watch non-mainstream movies in class and write papers about them.

After the movie, we just had some snacks at the food court before parting ways.

Later that afternoon, I met up with some students from UP Manila who requested for an interview with regard to my opinion on lobbying through blogging and online social networking. Airah was also there to help me answer the queries. Our first answer was that, there’s no such thing as “lobbying through blogging.” At best, blogging is only a minor complement to a lobbying campaign in the largely traditional arena of Philippine politics. The primary force in the shaping of public policy is and should always be the mass movement. I conceded, however, that money and economic influence often contest this in the present style of politics that we have. But no matter how slick the grease is, once policy makers are confronted with “people power,” there’s little that can stop the tide of public pressure.

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September 9, 2009

Kabataan disapproves of House approval of “text tax” bill

Kabataan Party-list Representative Raymond “Mong” Palatino today disapproves of the approval by the House of Representatives in the committee level of a measure imposing a five-centavo excise tax on every text message, saying that the “no pass-on provision” is no assurance that consumers will not shoulder the additional burden.

“Despite statements from the authors of the bill and House Speaker Propspero Nograles that the “text tax’” should not add to the burdens of the tax paying public, these do not guarantee that consumers will not shoulder this additional burden.”

Palatino said that the present deregulated telecommunications industry makes it virtually impossible for the government to impose the “no pass-on” provision. “The government is simply powerless to stop telcos from imposing new fees to consumers in light of the implementation of this new text tax,” he said.

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September 4, 2009

Kabataan wants gov’t to provide free educ to children with special needs

Filipino children and youth with special needs shall receive free and appropriate public education if a bill filed by a young solon pushes through.

Kabataan Party-list Rep. Raymond “Mong” Palatino today filed House Bill 6771 or the “Free Special Education (SPED) Act of 2009” allowing free services for children and youth with special needs – from early diagnosis and intervention to basic and ongoing education.

Filipino children and youth with special needs include the gifted or talented, the mentally retarded, the visually impaired, the hearing impaired, the orthopedically or physically handicapped, the learning disabled, the speech defective, the children with behavior problems, the children with autism, and those with health problems.

“Like everyone else, children and youth with special needs have the right to participate and contribute to society. As such, it is the obligation of the State to ensure the equality of their access to social services and life-improvement opportunities, their full participation in decisions concerning their welfare, and the eventual possibility of their economic self-sufficiency,” Palatino said in the bill’s explanatory note.

Citing a study by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Palatino said SPED in the country lacks basic funding to be able to properly address the needs of special children and youth.

Under the HB 6771, a Bureau of SPED will be created to formulate and administrate of an appropriate curriculum and developmentally-suited programs to primarily achieve functional literacy of the students/children with special needs and ensure their integration to society. The SPED bureau shall also ensure adequate and free medical assistance to these children, including those essential to their rehabilitation like therapy, psychometric assessments and medical examinations.

Full text of HB 6771 here.

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