NEWS BRIEFS

YOUTH PARTY THREATENS WIDESPREAD PROTEST IN JUNE

A few weeks before the new school year starts, Kabataan Party-list expressed concern over tuition and other fee increases and the low response of the Aquino government to educational system reforms.

In a press conference, Kabataan Party-list 4th nominee Karlo Mikhail Mongaya demanded from the administration of Pres. Benigno Simeon Aquino III to start giving solutions to the educational problem faced by the country.

The youth leader said that if the government continues to the youth’s call for educational system reforms, the opening of classes next month would be met by simultaneous mass actions and rallies led by student groups and organizations.

“President Aquino promised matuwid na daan when he got elected. With the expensive tuition and other school fees, low salaries for teachers, rising cost of basic commodities, where is that matuwid na daan now?” he asked.

According to Mongaya, almost 300 private universities and colleges were allowed to raise their tuition and other fees in the next school year. This does not include the imposition of miscellaneous fees, which are not covered by government regulatory guidelines.

He also said that the inaction of the government led to the rising cost of education. Even students of state colleges and universities are not spared from spending more per unit of education as subsidies to state-run schools have been cut down.

He added that the high cost of education is also manifested by the rise of the national average tuition fee of private schools from P5,406 in 2001 to P10,526, and the emergence of exorbitant, unjust and redundant fees like athletic fees, installment fees, power charge fees, Internet fees and etc. /Correspondent Sean Timothy Salvador

TOMAS DOUSES JUNJUN’S PLAN

Cebu south district Rep. Tomas Osmeña said yesterday that his nephew, Renato “JunJun” Osmeña Jr. is not being considered as a “serious contender” for south district representative at this time.

“Junjun is not being considered a serious contender at this point in time. But Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK) is not going to stop any qualified person from running. There is nothing wrong (with) giving the people a wider selection,” he said.

The south district lawmaker added he would not prevent Junjun from doing his barangay visits to also make his political plans known.

Representative Osmeña said that BO-PK will select its south congressional candidate before the filing of certificates of candidacy in October.

But this early, he already asked those interested for the south district post, which include third-term councilor Rodrigo Abellanosa and lawyer Aristotle Batuhan, to befriend barangay residents and win their support.

He said that his wife, councilor Margot Osmeña, is a fallback should BO-PK feel that none of the two other contenders was strong enough to defeat former south district representative Antonio Cuenco of Team Rama.

Abellanosa said in a separate interview that he does not mind having Junjun join the congressional race.

He said that when election comes, it would still be up to south district voters to chose their congressman. He was also convinced that district residents are smart enough to make a good choice.

Asked about his chances against Cuenco, Abellanosa said “the survy results will speak for itself.”

Both camps, he said, are funding surveys to assess their winability. However, Abellanosa said he does not want to dwell into the details of their survey.

Mayor Michael Rama yesterday met with vice president Jejomar Binay in a provincial-government-initiated activity held at the Cebu International Convention Center.

But he clarified that despite his meetings with Binay in province-initiated activities, he remains to be a loyal member of the Liberal Party.

Rama said that he only cut ties with BO-PK and not the administration party./Chief of Reporters Doris C. Bongcac