Student groups give Aquino failing mark for first year in office
MANILA, Philippines—Student groups and university councils on Wednesday gave President Aquino a “singko” (five), or failing grade, for his first year in office, saying he should go beyond rhetoric and act on his promises.
The National Union of Students of the Philippines also announced that students in several Metro Manila schools will walk out of their classes on Thursday, marking in protest the Aquino presidency’s first anniversary.
Students noted “signs of weak leadership” in critical incidents that tested the Aquino administration in its first year: the bus hostage crisis in August; problems concerning migrant workers in conflict areas in the Middle East; and most recently, the flooding in Mindanao.
“The Aquino administration’s policies and programs showed the outright abrogation on the part of the state to provide for people’s welfare,” said NUSP secretary-general Vanessa Faye Bolibol.
She said students were “very disappointed” at how the administration has so far fared.
NUSP also cited budget cuts for state colleges and universities and the much-criticized K-12 (Kindergarten to 12 years) program of the Department of Education, which aims to add two years of high school to improve the quality of high-school graduates.
“We have seen enough and what we have seen appalls us. But instead of listening to demands of the people, the Aquino administration continues to feed us with empty statements and band-aid solution. Puro pa-pogi na lang ang kayang gawin,” said Gemimah Garcia, the University of the Philippines Diliman Student Council chairperson.
Polytechnic University of the Philippines Student Council chairperson Fatima Villanueva said Aquino should do more than say what he wants to do for the country.
“In Aquino’s one year in office, we are already tired of his trite rhetoric. We are holding him accountable for the dismal state of the country’s economy and society,” Villanueva said.
