Naked butts Part 1

For five long seconds international attention was drawn to the inability of the Arroyo government to deal with the right to quality education on the CNN World Report. Ironically, what caught people’s attention worldwide was the naked parade, conducted by Filipino students who chose to bare it all.

The Naked Butt protest is certainly a departure from the over used and ineffective marches and rallies that students have been doing for decades. To say the least, the idea was so unusual that it merited time and space on CNN.

In one day, the student activists launched two activities that may signal a new attitude and a more modern response to social issues. Aside from the Naked Butt protest, the activists have gone to the Supreme Court to get a restraining order to stop any tuition fee increase that colleges and universities may be planning to impose in the next school year.

I certainly give praise to the non-violent options of the students as well as their decision to turn to the courts. I personally don’t think the court will be able to do much on the subject because the real culprit behind all the unregulated profiteering are the legislators who are too rich to bother with prices of education, and the government who will never dare to tangle with the Catholic Church who in turn run or own most of the colleges and universities in the country. 

I don’t know if it is a self-fulfilling prophecy or if we should blame the media, especially broadcast, for always building up such a scenario even before any of the educational establishments even mention the idea of tuition fee increases. What I really don’t get is how the “annual event” always happens, yet Congress and the government has not managed to pass a law that would establish a review board that will officially determine who gets to raise tuition fees based on a scoring or point system.   

I would imagine that the “board” would have representatives from the DepEd, CHED, the Department of Trade and Industry, the BIR and whoever else may have regulatory interests on the matter. Given how commercialized our educational system has become, it is also time to review the abused and outdated tax exemptions given to the two-faced establishments we call churches and institutions of learning.

I am not suggesting that we repeal or revoke such privileges, but I dare say that it is high time that government imposes the law based on justice for all and favor for none. If government insists and pursues a policy of taxation on all qualified citizens, then it must do so for all institutions of profit as well. We must undertake a review of laws and special privileges extended to institutions that are no longer charitable or practice the virtue of charity particularly schools, colleges and universities.

Perhaps, once the Reproductive Health bill is passed or dies as the case may be, people like Congressman Edcel Lagman can start focusing on this long ignored or feared issue. Now that the mythical influence of the church has been shot full of holes, it may be the opportune time to confront them with the question about “paying unto Caesar what is Caesar’s”, and if “charity” truly starts at home?

At the very least, they should be able to quantify and qualify their basis for raising tuition fees every year! Salaries don’t go up every year by law, the rate of inflation is minimal compared to the usual tuition fee increases, most of the buildings and equipment are fully depreciated, enrollment steadily goes up, often faster than the rate of the country’s population growth. In fact the margin of profit rises while the standards of quality diminish due to over-enrollment and congestion. On top of it all, half of these establishments are tax-free facilities that operate as mix use facilities for commercial purposes.

None of these questions or points is ever investigated because legislators, even the self-proclaimed activists and party lists representatives, have been deaf and dumb on the issue. Instead of having a powerful CHED or Commission on Higher Education, we find a bureaucracy that is powerless as colleges and universities effortlessly make Higher Education a source of profits and commissions!

 Why are the so-called radicals and pro-poor or pro-student members of Congress hardly heard from in the area of education? Why must funding of state universities be based on loyalty of political alumni? Why do we fund more basketball courts per barangay instead of schools? And why are we not investing more on government colleges and universities considering many of the nation’s leaders are in fact graduates from such institutions?

Today’s students have begun to show a growing maturity and creativity in drawing not only national but international attention to the abuse and unregulated commercialism of education in the Philippines. It is only proper that our Congressmen and Senators show their leadership and action in these times of serious economic difficulty.

We cannot afford to once again resurrect the days of the “First quarter storm” where protest and political activism led to deaths and disappearances, where frustration turned into rebellion. Students belong inside classrooms where they can be equipped to be competitive, creative and productive leaders. They should be learning not protesting and struggling to be given what is a universal right… the right to quality education.