UP opens doors to SONA contingent

MANILA, Philippines – The University of the Philippines (UP) in Diliman, Quezon City will host thousands of members of multi-sectoral groups who flocked to Metro Manila for President Duterte’s first State of the Nation Address (SONA) tomorrow. 

“So far we have space for 2,500 people,” UP Diliman chancellor Michael Tan told The STAR on Friday. “But we were told the contingent may reach as many as 10,000.”

Tan said they have allocated several open spaces in different parts of the university for those who will attend the mobilization tomorrow. 

He said the different groups will march to Batasang Pambansa tomorrow to air their support for the current administration’s various policies. 

“They will also raise various issues, such as the issue of lumad in Mindanao,” he added. 

The All UP Academic Employees Union called for donations for provisions to those who will stay at the university, which last year opened its doors to members of lumad communities who marched to the capital to air their grievances to the administration. 

Tan earlier suspended work at the university in anticipation of the large crowd that will gather in time for SONA. 

The Quezon City government also suspended classes in all levels and issued traffic rerouting schemes in major roads around Batasang Pambansa. 

Address student issues

Meanwhile, the League of Filipino Students (LFS) urged Duterte to address education issues in his first SONA. 

“For the past years, instead of providing free public education to the youth and the people, the previous administrations treated it as ventures for profit… We call on President Duterte to include education in his promise that ‘change is coming,’” LFS national spokesperson JP Rosos said.

“Our education system has gone from bad to worse. The policies implemented by the previous regimes resulted into the privatization of schools, commercialization of education, and deregulation of tuition and other school fees,” Rosos added.

The LFS called on the present administration to review policies such as the K-12

 program, “which has resulted in up to a million Filipinos deprived of finishing their high school education.”  

LFS said their members would march tomorrow not only to listen to the speech of the president but also to assert their demands.