[Photos above, and some below, are from here (Tim Medrano) and here (Jonna Baldres)]

Last Thursday, July 10, 2008, thousands of students across the country walked out of their classes to protest the Arroyo administration’s willfull refusal at implementing genuine reforms and changes in government policies that would alleviate the lives of millions of Filipino youth and their families in light of soaring prices of oil, food and other basic commodities, and a worsening crisis in the education sector.

In the University of the Philippines, where students, especially those in their first and second years, are beset with a tuition increase and new laboratory fees, half a thousand students joined the simultaneous programs held at various points in campus which culminated in a demonstration at Palma Hall at noon.

In the morning, I was at the program in the College of Arts & Letters (CAL) atrium, with Airah, a colleague in the University Student Council, the CAL Student Council and members of other mass organizations inviting students to join the nationwide walkout. Before it hit noon, we held a snake rally around CAL and marched to Palma Hall to join hundreds of other UP students in a demonstration at Palma Hall Steps. We then marched to the University Avenue, where another brief program was held while we barricaded the road. By past two in the afternoon, more than a dozen jeepneys packed with UP students proceeded to Espana in Manila to join other Metro Manila students in protest.

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Tags: CAL, economic crises, Gloria Arroyo, Morayta, Oil Deregulation Law, rally, STAND UP, tuition increase, University Student Council