Last Wednesday, several congressmen appeared before the press in the House of Representatives and pledged to disapprove the proposed budget cuts on state universities and colleges (SUC’s). Kabataan Party-List had gathered more than thirty signatures of congressmen who are against the Aquino administration’s proposed budget cuts. Earlier, thousands of students walked out of their classes and protested against the impending cuts on state subsidies.
The Makabayan political coalition announced last November 24 the independent senatorial candidacies of Bayan MunaRep. Satur Ocampo and GabrielaRep. Liza Maza. The two have earlier been reported to be part of the senatorial slate of Nacionalista Party (NP) standard-bearer Sen. Manny Villar as guest candidates. The decision came days after NP announced its alliance with the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL) of the Marcos family.
Ocampo, who himself is a victim of political persecution during the late Pres. Ferdinand Marcos’ implementation of Martial Law, said that it is an insult to all victims of the dictatorship to form an alliance with the KBL, a party that Ocampo claims is a moribund party. Ocampo also reminded Villar that it was KBL which obliterated the NP and and other political formations during Martial Law to become the one-party machinery of the Marcos regime.
Though Ocampo and Maza were aware of talks that Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr., son of the former President, may also be part of the broad NP senatorial slate, the two agreed to be part of the same slate as long as the issues of justice and compensation to the families of victims of Martial Law and the recovery of the ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses were not compromised. The earlier decision of Ocampo and Maza to form an alliance with NP was also achieved after Villar allegedly committed to and agreed on several other issues that the Makabayan coalition has been campaigning for. Among these are economic reforms through national industrialization and a review of bilateral, multilateral and regional economic agreements with foreign countries, genuine agrarian reform, and the prosecution of Pres. Gloria Arroyo and her kin for their involvement in many corruption scandals.
Last Wednesday, Kabataan Partylist, held a joint press conference with Gabriela Women’s Party with regard to the allegations of corruption against the Department of Education in its millions of pesos worth of purchases, not only of error-filled books, but also of shampoo, dental needs, and otoscopes for public school children.
Gabriela, who had previously filed a resolution in the House of Representatives about the Department’s purchase of millions of pesos worth of error-filled textbooks, reiterated its call to investigate the scandalous project. Read the list of errors and I guarantee you, it’s like reading jokes from Engrish.com. On its face, it’s hilarious, but if you think about how it’s being taught to millions of Filipino public school children, it’s scary. No wonder our children our faring poorly in standardized exams.
As if the millions of pesos government officials in the Department of Education allegedly pocketed with the error-filled textbooks weren’t enough, here comes overpriced shampoo, overpriced dental supplies and overpriced otoscopes. Hindi talaga pinalampas para pagkakitaan pati buhok, ngipin at tenga ng mga batang estudyante. Bid prices of the medical supplies were found to be more than double the prevailing market prices of the same items. Even if the Department claims they are of excellent quality, shouldn’t the price per unit be even cheaper because they are being purchased in bulk?
Here is the TV Patrol story on the scam, as exposed by Kabataan Partylist:
Here is the story of Bulatlat with regard to the scam.
law student, national democracy activist, film school graduate, photography hobbyist