Official Statement on Noynoy Aquino's State of the Nation Address (June 2011)
June 23, 2011
More than one year has passed since the Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III took the presidential seat. His promises such as the “daang matuwid” and “walang corrupt”, and his unmistakable opposition to Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo guaranteed his victory in the presidential elections. On July 25, 2011, PNoy will carry out his second State of the Nation Address. In his one year, one can assume that the more significant issues concerned his personal life (his playing PSP, his buying of a Porsche car, his love life, etc.); but the real significant issues will be discussed below.
One Year Under PNoy
Youth and Students’ Sector. The K+12 program for the elementary and secondary education has been implemented last June 2010. The program requires that students undergo kindergarten before stepping in the Grade 1 level and adding one year each in elementary and high school. Technical and vocational trainings are then incorporated so that students who cannot afford going to college will now be semi-skilled and can apply immediately for low-paying jobs. The program will also ensure that the products of these vocational trainings will satisfy foreign interests. In the tertiary level, the biggest budget cut was experienced by state universities and colleges (with P1.39B cut in the University of the Philippines System) and this resulted in continuous tuition and other fee increases (TOFI). Students from SUC’s now pay fees amounting almost equally to those in private universities because of the TOFI and other additional exorbitant fees. According to the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), 7.98 million youth are out of school. More than 1000 UPCAT passers did not go to UP because of the high tuition they did not expect.
Workers’ Sector. The National Statistics Coordinating Board, a government agency, recently reduced the poverty line from P42.00 to P37.00. This means that a family earning more than P37.00 will not be considered poor. Another alarming fact is that the minimum wage of workers is just P414.00 even though the minimum daily cost of living is P975.00.
Peasants’ Sector. Agrarian reform has a very long history in the Philippines. During PNoy’s campaign, he said that land would now be distributed to the farmers. However, being a landlord (Hacienda Luisita belongs to the Aquinos) himself, genuine agrarian reform still remains to be a farmer’s dream. According to Ibon Foundation, seven out of ten farmers still do not have their own land to till.
Foreign Military Presence. With the recent issues about the Spratlys Island, the Filipino people still calls for the abolishment of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) or the law which allows American Troops to establish military bases and conduct trainings. Furthermore, Filipino citizens, upon entering these military bases, will now be under American law. The most famous case in relation to the VFA is the rape of Nicole by the American citizen Daniel Smith. Smith is still not convicted because he is not under the jurisdiction of Philippine law. The VFA also violates the national sovereignty of the Philippines and puts our country at the disadvantage while benefiting the American military. Lastly, it remains as a threat to the security and welfare of the Filipino people.
Human Rights. Because we feel these grievances and injustices, we voice out and express our disgust and sentiments to Aquino’s administration. But instead of diplomatically hearing our calls and doing some actions about it, the administration pacifies the progressives. His administration continues Arroyo’s Oplan Bantay Laya I and II in his Oplan Bayanihan; this plans to eradicate activists and progressive groups who expose his incompetency as president. Under PNoy, the statistics of human rights violation is alarming because they are relatively higher compared to Arroyo’s administration. These violations happened only in his one year. Despite of these extra-judicial killings and political prisoners, PNoy only recently filed cases against Arroyo, a timely action, so that he can mention this in his SONA.
What We Must Do
As students, we should start/continue to undergo an education that would ensure the elevation of our political consciousness. Discussions on current issues with guidance of historical studies will ensure this. We need to improve the participation of the broadest number of students in the campus issues up to national issues. We should also raise our militancy as we struggle for and uphold our democratic rights in education.
The youth and student movement cannot struggle in its own, however. Thus, we should link our struggles with those of the basic masses: the workers and peasants. Only with this unity with the basic masses can we successfully ensure victory.
Struggle for national democracy with a socialist perspective!
June 23, 2011
More than one year has passed since the Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III took the presidential seat. His promises such as the “daang matuwid” and “walang corrupt”, and his unmistakable opposition to Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo guaranteed his victory in the presidential elections. On July 25, 2011, PNoy will carry out his second State of the Nation Address. In his one year, one can assume that the more significant issues concerned his personal life (his playing PSP, his buying of a Porsche car, his love life, etc.); but the real significant issues will be discussed below.
One Year Under PNoy
Youth and Students’ Sector. The K+12 program for the elementary and secondary education has been implemented last June 2010. The program requires that students undergo kindergarten before stepping in the Grade 1 level and adding one year each in elementary and high school. Technical and vocational trainings are then incorporated so that students who cannot afford going to college will now be semi-skilled and can apply immediately for low-paying jobs. The program will also ensure that the products of these vocational trainings will satisfy foreign interests. In the tertiary level, the biggest budget cut was experienced by state universities and colleges (with P1.39B cut in the University of the Philippines System) and this resulted in continuous tuition and other fee increases (TOFI). Students from SUC’s now pay fees amounting almost equally to those in private universities because of the TOFI and other additional exorbitant fees. According to the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), 7.98 million youth are out of school. More than 1000 UPCAT passers did not go to UP because of the high tuition they did not expect.
Workers’ Sector. The National Statistics Coordinating Board, a government agency, recently reduced the poverty line from P42.00 to P37.00. This means that a family earning more than P37.00 will not be considered poor. Another alarming fact is that the minimum wage of workers is just P414.00 even though the minimum daily cost of living is P975.00.
Peasants’ Sector. Agrarian reform has a very long history in the Philippines. During PNoy’s campaign, he said that land would now be distributed to the farmers. However, being a landlord (Hacienda Luisita belongs to the Aquinos) himself, genuine agrarian reform still remains to be a farmer’s dream. According to Ibon Foundation, seven out of ten farmers still do not have their own land to till.
Foreign Military Presence. With the recent issues about the Spratlys Island, the Filipino people still calls for the abolishment of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) or the law which allows American Troops to establish military bases and conduct trainings. Furthermore, Filipino citizens, upon entering these military bases, will now be under American law. The most famous case in relation to the VFA is the rape of Nicole by the American citizen Daniel Smith. Smith is still not convicted because he is not under the jurisdiction of Philippine law. The VFA also violates the national sovereignty of the Philippines and puts our country at the disadvantage while benefiting the American military. Lastly, it remains as a threat to the security and welfare of the Filipino people.
Human Rights. Because we feel these grievances and injustices, we voice out and express our disgust and sentiments to Aquino’s administration. But instead of diplomatically hearing our calls and doing some actions about it, the administration pacifies the progressives. His administration continues Arroyo’s Oplan Bantay Laya I and II in his Oplan Bayanihan; this plans to eradicate activists and progressive groups who expose his incompetency as president. Under PNoy, the statistics of human rights violation is alarming because they are relatively higher compared to Arroyo’s administration. These violations happened only in his one year. Despite of these extra-judicial killings and political prisoners, PNoy only recently filed cases against Arroyo, a timely action, so that he can mention this in his SONA.
What We Must Do
As students, we should start/continue to undergo an education that would ensure the elevation of our political consciousness. Discussions on current issues with guidance of historical studies will ensure this. We need to improve the participation of the broadest number of students in the campus issues up to national issues. We should also raise our militancy as we struggle for and uphold our democratic rights in education.
The youth and student movement cannot struggle in its own, however. Thus, we should link our struggles with those of the basic masses: the workers and peasants. Only with this unity with the basic masses can we successfully ensure victory.
Struggle for national democracy with a socialist perspective!
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