Strike!

Asecurity guard once asked me why we did it. Rallying against the state, causing public disruption… the works.

You should be more grateful to the government for funding your education, instead of biting the hand that feeds you. Parang wala kayong utang na loob eh…

Fair enough, manong, but it’s not the government who pays for my education — it’s you. It’s the fishball vendor down the street, the random jogger along the track oval, the Ikot and Toki jeep drivers. My involvement is a way of making sure that you aren’t paying your taxes for nothing, that your investment in the iskolar ng bayan isn’t a waste, that UP hasn’t succumbed to the social apathy surrounding it on all fronts.

Indeed, to those who raise their glasses saying it’s high-time state universities and colleges (SUCs) became self-sufficient, then the prospect of yet another emotionally-charged demonstration might make you squirm with the jarring “violence” of it all.

Good.

Pardon this offense of middle class sensibilities, but it must be said: We have a duty to resist.

Budget wars: May the force be with you. Pop culture meets social action as UP activist groups spread these posters online.

Because truly, owing to the nature of what state universities and colleges imply, it’s only right that SUCs be supported by the government.

But there’s the rub. For the proposed national budget of 2012, state universities and colleges (SUCs) will lose about P500 million due to the P1 billion combined budget cut of 97 SUCs in 2010. UP is among the worst hit, with the system-wide budget for next year decreased by P200 million. Technically. However, with the Salary Standardization Law, UP needs an additional P600 million for Personal Services… and then some. 

All in all, P800 million short.

If it’s violence we’re talking about, what could be more violent than the tiny window of opportunity slamming shut in one’s face? Thousands of students who have the brains but not the means are being dissuaded from even trying for the entrance exams. Why bother when you won’t be able to afford it anyway? And thus the noble cause upon which the SUCs were founded vanishes in the deluge.

The SUCs are there, supposedly, to help level the playing field. To propagate democracy, education, and social mobility. So that the sugar plantation worker who toils for seven days a week, who receives less than 0.000001 percent of what Mar Roxas earns in a day, can dream of a better life for his children; can make that dream a reality. 

And you should be, too.

Some from the economics front say that ultimately, the budget cut is good. That it’s a matter of perspective; proper allocation to other sectors, spread the money around and all that. Ergo, let’s increase the budget for Public-Private Partnerships, Conditional Cash Transfer and intelligence funds, among others. Leave basic social services hanging out to dry. With regards to the health sector, for instance, hospitals like the Philippine General Hospital, Philippine Heart Center, and National Kidney Institute are having their Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses slashed by P70.8 million, under the proposed 2012 budget.

I’m sick of hearing how this is a reality that must be accepted, how the notion of opposing the budget cuts are simply too idealistic to entertain.

But civilizations aren’t founded on any notion of the “realistic,” nor are dreams or progress.

In one of the symbolic protests organized in UP, a friend of mine jogged non-stop for almost two hours under the scorching heat, carrying an anti-budget cut flag. During his run, a jogger sneered at him and told him to give it up, nagiisa ka na lang.

To the students out there:

Because we can still afford to be idealists, and because we carry the weight of posterity on our shoulders, what are we waiting for?

They say it’s a vicious cycle of there not being enough money; of increasing needs and too little to go around; of resources never enough to pacify the blood-thirsty, ignorant masses. Perhaps. But it’s only a cycle if one refuses to break it.