CHED MUST EXPLAIN TUITION INCREASES!

This is a public statement from the ABAKADA-Guro Party-List which I had posted as a status several days ago. I am reposting this now as requested by sme of our readers from Manila and Quezon City

With the authority granted to some 280 schools to increase tuition this coming school year, it’s high time to investigate the Commission on Higher Education (Ched) and other concerned government agencies.

Practically every year, colleges and universities are allowed to raise tuition for all sorts of reasons. But the public hardly gets to know these reasons and how justifiable these really are to add to the burdens of parents. Making matters worse is there are hardly any improvements in school facilities, salaries of teachers and non-teaching employees and the quality of education as a whole.

The Ched, therefore, must be asked immediately to explain its standards or basis in allowing tuition increases. It must justify why tuition must go up yearly. More importantly, the Ched must cite what it has been doing, if any, to help prevent higher tuition on keep increases to the barest minimum. For this coming school year, media reports say schools want as much as P36 more per unit. That’s P108 for a three-unit subject or more than P2,000 for a 21-unit semester or seven subjects. Considering the hard times, that’s another heavy load for the minimum wage or slightly above minimum wage earner.

The Ched is a government agency. It’s for the good and the welfare of the greater majority, and not of a chosen few. That is an unconditional, encompassing and timeless guideline that the Ched should follow. The yearly tuition increases indicate otherwise. The public has a right to know why. 30

WAR CLOUDS OVER BBL BIGGER THAN EVER!

War clouds over the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) have grown BIGGER THAN EVER! And if PNoy’s Government FORCE the passage of their OWN VERSION of the measure, BLOOD WILL FLOW and It will SOLELY BE on PNoy’s hands.

A story in manilastandardtoday.com said 85 top and original Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) commanders with a combined force of as many as 10,000 fighters have categorically declared they WILL NOT SUPPORT the BBL. These ARMED WARRIROS have even threatened to BREAK AWAY from the Front. They’re the latest additions to the groups, some of whom are ARMED, who have PUBLICLY VOWED TO RESIST the BBL like the Sultanate of Sulu, factions of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), the Tausogs, breakaway units of the MILF itself, the 14 clans of B’laans in Maguindanao and South Cotabato, and Zamboanga City. And let’s not forget the 62 percent of Mindanao residents wh have also expressed opposition t the BBL.

Muslims are known worldwide for their readiness to fight and die for their beliefs and principles at any given time. It would be STUPIDITY TO THE MAX for anyone to think that these groups would just SWALLOW THEIR VOWS OF RESISTANCE if the Malacanang version of the BBL is enacted into law. FIGHTING, WIDESPREAD FIGHTING, will follow. Even if the leaders of the Bangsamoro Estate which the BBL will create will have the power to call on the military, through the President, if they have to in crushing threats to their turf. Muslims are NOT SCARED of the military, We have proven this since the 1970s.

The anti BBL groups have their own reasons for rejecting the BBL. Unless the MILF and government peace panels will have the CONSCIENCE and PROFESSIONALISM to talk to them, first, ONLY A MIRACLE can prevent BLOODSHED on a scale never before seen in Mindanao. If this happens, WHO SHOULD BE HELD RESPONSIBLE? WHO’S TO BLAME?

One thing for sure, neither PNoy nor the congressmen who have voted for the approval of the BBL on the committee level will assume responsibility. Piso Manalo P1,000. 30

ALL-OUT EFFORT FOR MILF ‘POGI POINTS!’

The ALL-OUT EFFORT to portray the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, (MILF) as the heroes in the killing of terrorist-bomb maker Abdul Basit Usman is now UNDENIABLE.

In a story in interaksyon.com., it’s now the Armed Forces which is categorically saying that it was members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, not government assets or his own followers as earlier reported, who killed Usman.  This, despite an earlier pronouncement by no less than Armed Forces chief of staff Gen. Gregorio Pio Catapang Jr. that “the shooting that led to the death of Usman was (the result of) infighting among his men in connection with the $1-million bounty” on his head plus P6.3-million raised by the Philippine government. But for all the resources and men at its disposal, Armed Forces public affairs chief Lt. Col. Harold Cabunoc could only give this very SKETCHY STATEMENT:  “After our verification, we have learned that Basit Usman entered an MILF area. Elements from the MILF then accosted him so that he can be brought to the MILF Central Committee. However, Basit Usman resisted, triggering a firefight that resulted to his death.”

First: Cabunoc’s version is DIFFERENT from that of the MILF. The MILF said Usman and his bodyguards were WALKING with members of the 118^th MILF Base Command purportedly to a meeting with the Front’s Central Committee. But Usman supposedly sensed a deception along the way and tried to fight his way out.

Second: The MILF itself has yet to issue a final, official version of how Usman was killed, even if it had earlier claimed credit for the terrorist’s killing. So how come, from the proverbial out of the blue, the Armed Forces suddenly has a FINAL version, different as it is but just the same portraying the MILF as the real heroes?  Who verified the AFP version and why won’t Cabunoc give a detailed report for media and public scrutiny?

Third: Before the conflicting versions on Usman’s death started coming out, government mouthpieces like peace panel chair Miriam Ferrer and Presidential Communications Sec. Sonny Coloma were already praising the MILF for the killing of Usman.  Now, in one click,  NOBODY is CONTRADICTING THEM ANYMORE.

Fourth: Why did Gen. Catapang issue that statement on in-fighting among Usman’s men for the $1-million reward for his capture? Where did his information come from. Considering his position, Gen. Catapang WOULD NOT SAY SOMETHING to media if he had NO AIR-TIGHT BASIS.  He would not be Armed Forces chief if he was the CARELESS with his pronouncements. I don’t know the guy but for the sake of his own credibility, he had better explain his statement  to the public, and I mean immediately.

If all these are not part of an ALL-OUT, DESPERATE EFFORT FOR ‘POGI POINTS’ for the MILF, I will gladly welcome detailed clarifications. And just asking: Is the PNoy Government THE NEW SPEAKERS’ BUREAU OF THE MILF?  30