Semilla, Stanley T.

2008-61979
BS Computer Science

Education for Sale

11:30 in the morning of November 25, 2010, I am on my way to Palma Hall for my Geog1 class.

I was anticipating a walk-out or no-class scheme for my class, and fortunately, I my anticipation was

right.

On the corridors of AS, I’ve witnessed how UP students were able to express their hearts through

joining the nationwide state universities’ walkout. It was not the first time I saw this happen, since I’m

already on my 3rd year in UP Diliman. My heart is pulling me to join the strike, but my body was on its

way to my Geog1 class. We, I and my classmates, were waiting for the professor and others were chatting

about the walkout. After a few minutes, the professor came and announced that we will be supporting the

walkout by not having a class. “Yeah!” that was my first reaction. In my mind, I thought of just hanging

around with my friends and would not care about the strike that is already occurring. I walked out the

room, looked for the students who were rallying and protesting, and tried to follow them. I wasn’t able to

join them, but I was able to speak my heart out through talking with a friend of mine who is also

concerned with the strike.

The strike was about Philippines’ state universities asking for budget cut prevention. That was my

idea about the strike. I didn’t read too many articles about the budget cut, since I know for a fact that I

would not be affected in case it will happen. But as I think through, I realized that I was once a part of a

tuition fee increase which is caused by an education budget cut. And if this will happen again this time, to

what amount will UP’s tuition fee go? They say it would reach Php100,000 for a student to study in UP.

What the?! I know it’s informal to react that way, but that was who I am. At that rate, no average Filipino

would dare to study in UP anymore. “Sa 20K nga, hindi na lahat nakakapag-aral, sa 100K pa kaya?”

That was the logic behind my reactions to a budget cut. It is unfair for students to pay 100K without

knowing what’s he’s paying. For me, I didn’t know why our tuition increased 300% from the previous
Php300/unit rate. I am just ashamed of how our government is prioritizing education nowadays. We were

at the top before because of the quality education our country can offer. But right now, it seems that our

countrymen wouldn’t be able to afford a quality education in this country. More and more will suffer and

more Filipinos would be labelled “poor” if those Filipinos wouldn’t be able to have a quality education.

UP offers a very high quality education on an affordable tuition fee, but with another hike, would

Filipinos be able to afford the so-called “quality education”? Think about it. The question is, is there a

need for budget cut? Can’t the government cut other allocations? I don’t know, but being a Filipino seems

unfair. If you are a Filipino taxpayer, you are paying the government’s subsidies for all its projects. I

believe it’s unfair for others who pay and would not be able to use those projects. Just like the MRT,

Filipinos are paying their taxes for MRT’s fare to be lowered up to Php15. I heard that the fare should be

at around Php70 or more. My mother, my father and other relatives are paying their taxes and helping the

government subsidize MRT’s fare even though they’re not using the transportation since they are in the

province. I don’t think that fair for Filipinos who are paying and wouldn’t even have the chance of using

our MRT. The government should know how to budget wisely, and they should prioritize education sector

since it’s where the Philippines’ is getting good fruits. Life could be better and education could be

affordable, all the government should do is think again.

I believe that education can still be affordable. I know that the government should study it’s

allocation of money for a better quality of education. The strike is our way to express the hearts of

Filipinos who wanted to achieve success through the means of having the best education we can have. To

the government, please think again.