Puno, other Laban bets sign pro-education covenant

Senatorial candidates of the opposition Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (Laban) have vowed, if elected, to mount a bipartisan push for a bale of initiatives that would further the interests of Filipino students and help Congress truly transform education into the great social equalizer of the masa.

Laban’s senatorial bet led by former Press Secretary and Presidential Spokesman Ricardo "Dong’ Puno Jr. have signed at the Philippine Normal University (PNU) in Manila a covenant binding them to protect and advance the interests of Filipino students in tackling in Congress such education-related concerns as the annual education budget, Magna Carta for Students, tuition fee increases and the status of state universities and colleges (SUCs).

Puno along with other Laban leaders signed the education-friendly covenant yesterday at the end of a three-hour Voters Education Advocacy Forum at the PNU auditorium that was attended by more than 300 student leaders, faculty members and administrative staff of the university.

Puno and the other signatories also expressed in the covenant their support for the holding of a free and peaceful balloting come May 14.

The other signatories were senatorial candidate Panfilo Lacson and former Presidential Management Staff Chief Macel Fernandez, who signed it on behalf of Laban president and senatorial bet Edgardo Angara. The covenant was likewise signed by leaders of over a dozen PNU organizations, including Anthony Robles, who is president of the school’s student government.

"Mapanindigan at maipagtanggol nawa nila tayong mga kabataan sa mga isyung sumusunod: Magna Carta sa mga estudyante, nakalaang pananalapi para sa edukasyon, pagsasapribado ng mga Pamantasan, (at) pagtaas ng matrikula," the students said in the covenant.

The covenant was prepared by the three PNU organizations that had organized the forum for the senatorial candidates of the Laban-Puwersa ng Masa coalition. These are the PNU student government, Social Science Club and the Students and Educators Empowerment for Development (SEED) Volunteers.

"We in Laban will pursue education-friendly initiatives in Congress with vigor on the conviction that education is the great social equalizer that will open wide to young Filipinos the door to more – and better – jobs and livelihood opportunities in the emerging information or knowledge society," said Puno, whose campaign platform Puno ng Pag-asa para sa Masa has a sharp focus on education and jobs.

In campaign sorties in Mindanao last week, Puno appealed to private schools to put off plans to raise tuition fees this coming school year so as not to unduly burden low-income and middle-class families long reeling from the ever spiraling cost of living.

Puno noted that owing to high education costs, only 40 out of every 100 Filipinos who enter school get to finish high school, and a far lower 15 of them reach college. "Raising tuition fees at this time will only send more kids from underprivileged families out of school and make it more difficult for them to have a better deal in life," he added.

The former press secretary and presidential spokesman had also supported calls for the holding of a special registration for students and other firt-time voters in order to have the collective voice of young Filipinos be better heard in the May 14 elections.

In the event that a special registration is held prior to the polls, Puno said that a massive go-out-and-register campaign must be held nationwide soon enough to make sure that most, if not all, of an estimated four million first-timers will be able to sign up for the balloting.