Anti-poor

Senator Panfilo Lacson saw an item that looked suspiciously like pork and threatened to delay approval of the 2017 General Appropriations Act unless it was taken out. His colleagues relented and removed the item amounting to P8.3 billion.

The amount might have simply been deleted from the national budget. But some legislators had other ideas. They proposed realigning the freed amount to the Commission on Higher Education (CHED). The money would be used to underwrite the tuition fees of all students in state colleges and universities (SCUs) at least for the next year.

Although the mechanics for actually using the money to pay for tuition still have to be figured out, no one seems ready to object to free tuition. This was a windfall for the harried parents who scrimp and save for their children’s education. It is tremendously popular. The politicians scrambled to claim credit for the realignment to boost their popularity – even if some really had no hand in the realignment.

What is popular, however, is not always right.

To begin with, this exercise in budgetary improvisation puts great pressure on Congress to permanently set aside money to pay for tuition fees in SCUs. That money may be taken away from more urgent items of state expenditure. We know how difficult it is to take away a benefit once it has been given.

SCUs are already heavily subsidized. The cost of educating a UP student, for instance, is much higher than the cost of educating a student at the Ateneo even as tuition fees at the latter university is much higher. Any additional subsidy ought to be tightly targeted to suit national policy such as improving science education. An across-the-board tuition subsidy maintains the inefficiency of public educational institutions without putting pressure on them to align their own programs to support national goals.

Eventually, should free tuition become a permanent feature of tertiary public education, this will result in rich students crowding out the more deserving ones for places in the SCUs. Students coming from expensive private high schools easily beat students from public high schools for places in the public tertiary education system. Nowhere is this most evident than at the UP Diliman campus where it has become rarer to find students coming from provincial high schools and where parking space has become the main problem of students.

The poor but capable students from the public (especially provincial) high schools will be excluded from the system. Rich kids from the most exclusive private high schools will enjoy the free tuition.

That is surely anti-poor.

Harrowing

Manjinder “James” Kumar has a harrowing tale that deserves amplification here. It is a tale the authorities will hopefully pay closer attention to.

James Kumar, an Indian national, is well known beyond the ethnic community he belongs to. He belongs to the board of advisers of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC), a high-profile NGO crusading against criminality. He is president of Khalsa Diwan Inc., a corporation established for Indians who follow the teachings of the Sikh religion. He is president of Filipino Indian Welfare Society, Inc., a non-stock, non-profit institutions looking after the welfare of Indian nationals and helping foster relationships with Filipinos. James is also president-elect of the Rotary Club of Makati Nielsen.

Today, James is a fugitive. A bizarre case was filed against him and his mother for abduction and rape. The supposed victim gave a fictitious address. The case is pending at the Regional Trial Court Branch 19 at Bacoor, Cavite. In a curious twist, the judge granted James’ motion for reinvestigation of the charges but did not lift the warrant for his and his mother’s arrest. Using the warrant, the police managed to arrest his mother and lock her up in jail.

This is only the latest of a series of harassments against James since he took up the case of Indian nationals victimized by a powerful kidnap-for-ransom syndicate composed of fellow Indians. The syndicate threatened him with elimination unless he desists from his crusade to protect the Indian community here.

On December, 2008, James’ brother Sandip Kumar was murdered. The family believes the syndicate was behind the crime. One known member of the syndicate has since been charged with murder and detained.

On December 20, 2010, the syndicate tried to kidnap James himself. A gunfight ensued when James resisted the kidnapping attempt. The kidnappers, however, were able to commandeer James’ vehicle along with two of his close friends. The bodies of the two were found riddled with bullets soon after.

Although some members of the syndicate have been arrested for an array of offenses ranging from kidnapping to attempted murder, the person believed to be the leader of the gang continues to coordinate the activities of his group from jail. Because of this, the local Indian community continues to live in fear.

James himself testified in open court about the continuing threats issued against him and other members of his community. The case of abduction with rape is only the series of cases filed against James to intimidate him. The courts dismissed all the previous ones.

For standing up against a criminal gang, James Kumar earned the admiration and respect of the local Indian community. But beyond that, and beyond the staunch support of fellow anti-crime crusaders at the VACC, James needs the immediate support of our law enforcers to finally neutralize the gangsters determined to make life a living hell for those who have taken a stand on the side of justice.