Students to call for GMA’s resignation

Several protest actions by students from different youth organizations will be held this week to call for President Arroyo’s resignation.

In an e-mailed statement, YOUTH DARE spokesperson Raymond Palatino said student groups from various schools have already called on the President to step down.

Palatino said the National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP) and the College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP), the biggest alliances of student councils and publications in the country and main convenors of YOUTH DARE, have called on all its members to join the mass actions.

NUSP has more than 450 student councils as members while the CEGP has more than 750 member publications.

The Katipunan ng mga Sangguniang Mag-aaral sa UP (Kasama sa UP), an association of student councils in the UP system, and Solidaridad, a system-wide alliance of student publications and writers’ organization in UP, are also now gearing up for massive mobilization of UP students in its six autonomous units.

In a statement, UP Student Regent Ken Leonard Ramos dispelled perceptions that the youth currently experience "People Power fatigue." He said that as long as there is no genuine social change, students will never be tired of marching on the historical avenues of EDSA.

Students from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines’ (PUP) main campus, led by its Central Student Council and PUP’s official student publication, The Catalyst, are set to hold a massive walkout today to start off daily protests in PUP units.

PUP students in its nine campuses in Luzon are expected to join the mass actions. Alyansa ng Nagkakaisang Konseho ng PUP (ANAK-PUP), the Alyansa ng Kabataang Mamamahayag sa PUP (AKM-PUP) and the Office of PUP Student Regent Diana Monde Directo have also urged Mrs. Arroyo to resign.

Palatino said students in the Katipunan, Taft and University Belt areas will simultaneously form human chains today to symbolize the students’ unity.

UP and PUP are also set to hold an indoor snake rally and noise barrage to drumbeat the mammoth rally on July 13 in Ayala.

Christian youth under the Student Christian Movement of the Philippines (SCMP) and students from the Philippine Christian University will also hold a candle lighting activity along Taft Avenue.

The group is likewise planning to form a human chain along E. Rodriquez Avenue with seminarians in the Saint Andrew’s Theological Seminary and other church organizations.

"Students and youth organizations are already preparing for massive school walkouts in time for Mrs. Arroyo’s State of the Nation Address (SONA). That is if she will last for another two weeks," he said.

Palatino said mounting protests against the President can no longer be confined inside the campus.

The Western Police District (WPD), however, advised school officials yesterday to keep student protests inside the campuses.

"We will not be cowed by their threat. This only shows that the Arroyo administration is already desperate. The end is indeed near," Palatino said.

The WPD also requested school security officials in Manila to tighten their watch on their respective campuses after receiving reports that destabilizers were allegedly planning to infiltrate educational institutions and recruit students to join the street protests.

WPD chief Director General Pedro Bulaong met with officials of the Philippine National Association of School Security Officers (PHILNASSO) and the Metro Manila Association of School Security Officers (MMASSO).

"We do believe that you do not want your respective schools to get involved in the destabilization issue. So, we are asking for your full cooperation to avoid violence in campuses. Let us be aware of the situation," Bulaong said. — With Evelyn Macairan