KABATAANULAT NG KABATAAN PARTYLIST | ISSUE 02, VOLUME 1 | HULYO 2011

RIZAL THE REVOLUTIONARY. In commemoration of Jose Rizal’s 150th birthday, youths wear-ing Rizal face masks staged a protest action in Mendiola against current social ills like poverty and corruption. They likewise called on the youth to be active agents in nation-building.

BPO workers join Labor Day protestsFor the first time since the Business

Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry boomed in the country, BPO workers, to-gether with the Kabataan Party-list, joined the International Labor Day actions on May 1 to advance their calls for security of work, right to association, and occupational safety and health, among others.

Agents of Change, a group of BPO workers, set up a ‘help desk’ on May 1 as they take part in the protest actions for their labor rights and benefits.

According to Rina Torres, a BPO worker, “the help desk will serve as venue for us working in this industry to voice our grievances. It is also our form of letting the Aquino government know our concerns. For one, we find it discon-certing that the labor department is even ag-gressive in presenting BPOs as a key employ-ment generator despite the grim labor issues within this industry.”

“The help desk aims to collate the growing number of labor issues that BPO workers are

experiencing. We have to get the real picture however dismal that may be. As such, our help desk is also an alternative to the expected job fairs on May 1 which we fear will only give false hopes about this so-called sunshine industry,” Torres said.

Reports earlier this year said that BPO work-ers suffer from health problems due to their intense workload and shifting work schedule. BPO workers have also complained about the lack of job security and democratic processes like the forming of unions.

“BPO workers have to stand together and speak up because the issues that confront us will not be resolved if we don’t. We have to understand that our rights and welfare are at stake here,” Torres said.

There are currently 525, 000 BPO workers in the country, majority of which belong to the youth sector.

Last year, Kabataan Partylist together with BPO workers filed in Congress HB no. 2592 or the ‘BPO Workers Protection and Welfare Act.”

LARO SA LIMOT. To promote the “Philippine Games” Bill (House Bill 809), KPL held itsfirst “Lar-ong Pinoy” Philippine games festival at Barangay Old Capitol Site in Quezon City, near the Uni-versity of the Philippines Diliman campus.

Bills to uphold students rights, campus press freedom filed

Kabataan Partylist (KPL) filed a students rights and welfare bill before the House of Representatives ad-

journed its session last June 8. House Bill 4842, known as the Students Rights Act (SRA), seeks to reaffirm the rights of students and uphold education as a basic right.

The SRA includes provisions that protect students' right to organize and participate in school policy-making and to be ad-

mitted to an educational institution regardless of socio-econom-ic status, political beliefs and sexual orientation, among others.

Earlier, KPL also filed HB 4287 or the Campus Press Free-dom Bill which seeks to repeal the Campus Journalism Act and institute mechanisms to uphold and protect cam-pus press freedom and the rights of student journalists.

According to KPL National Coordinator Athena Gardon, the existence of many of these student organizations and publications is being repressed in many of our schools.

“For instance, some schools disallow the formation of

student councils or in many cases where they are al-lowed to exist, their autonomy and independence are assaulted by stringent school measures and oher forms of repression that threaten the very material ex-istence of these student organizations,” Gardon said.

“School organizations and publications have served as ven-ues through which our students realize their involvement in nation-bulding. What is more, it is also through these student organizations where they gain added knowledge and skills beyond the four walls of a classroom,” according to Gardon.

‘Aquino’s 1st year a failure’ – youth groupsIn anticipation of President Benigno Aquino

III’s second State of the Nation Address, vari-ous youth groups called his first year a “failure,” condemning his “flawed policies in education” and indecision in other areas of governance.

During his first year in office, Aquino contin-ued implementing policies that “did not [ad-dress] the problems of the education sector,” said groups Kabataan Partylist (KPL), National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP), College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP), League of Filipino Students and Student Chris-tian Movement of the Philippines in a press conference on July 2 at UP Diliman.

Despite the government’s claim that a year is not enough to assess Aquino, “the first year already set the tone [of his regime],” said KPL Secretary General Athena Gardon. Youth groups called for a nationwide walkout on July 19 to protest Aquino’s negligence of the edu-cation sector. Education crisis

The Aquino administration allotted only 11.35 percent of the national budget for edu-cation, the lowest portion given to education since the Estrada administration. With many public schools in decrepit condition, it is very likely that fees might be charged to meet the need for facilities, said Gardon.

At present, public schools still lack 152,000 classrooms, 95.5 million textbooks, 103,500 teachers, 13.5 million chairs, and 424,600 wa-ter and sanitation facilities, said NUSP Chair Einstein Recedes, citing data from the Depart-ment of Education (DepEd).

Due to insufficient funds, schools have been generating income from students by in-creasing tuition and miscellaneous fees, said Recedes. For this year, the Commission on

Higher Education (CHEd) approved tuition in-creases in 340 private colleges and universities nationwide. In the National Capital Region, 69 colleges increased tuition by an average of seven percent.

As of 2009, approximately 7.93 million chil-dren aged 7-16 years old have been forced to drop out of school due to fee increases. In the 2009 survey by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies, only 14 of 100 students who enter grade one eventually finish college.‘Misguided solutions’

“It is clear that the solution to this problem is an increase in government subsidy. How-ever, the Aquino administration continues to overlook this fact, and instead implements the K+12 program,” said Christopher Pasion, na-tional deputy secretary general of CEGP.

Under the K+12 program, or universal kin-dergarten plus 12 years of basic education, the students will have “more time to consolidate acquired academic skills and competencies,” according to the DepEd briefer on the K+12 plan.

But adding two years to basic education will not improve the worsening quality of edu-cation, said Recedes. The length of education cycle has no strict correlation to the quality of education, as students in other countries gar-nered excellent scores in aptitude exams even though the cycle is shorter than the Philip-pines, he explained.

Adding two more years to the K+12 pro-gram requires an estimated P150 billion for new classrooms, teachers, books, and seats. However, it is not certain if the government has enough resources to effectively imple-ment the K+12 program, said Gardon.

According to DepEd Order No. 37, schools

without kindergarten classrooms “shall utilize available classrooms, library, science labora-tory, home economics building, resource cen-ter, and other available spaces.” DepEd Order No. 37 details the implementation of the K+12 program, which will start by offering universal kindergarten for all children aged five years old.

“Ganito ba ang patakaran ng isang mati-nong gobyerno? Hihikayating mag-enrol ang lahat ng limang taong gulang kahit wala palang classroom na paglalagyan, kaya pag-kakasyahin na lamang sa kung saan, sa ‘any available spaces?’” said ACT Teachers Partylist Rep. Antonio Tinio. (Article reprinted from the Philippine Collegian with permission.)

NEWS 2On a mission

Kabataan Partylist in partnership with the Health Alliance for Democracy and the Brg. Old Capitol Site (OCS) Neighborhood Association held a medical mission last May 29. Around 200 beneficiaries received free check-up and medicine from KPL.

Regulation of tuition, other fees soughtAfter intense lobbying from Kabataan

Partylist and affiliate youth and student groups, the Commission on Higher Education and the Department of Education are set to come up with a revised set of guidelines that will regulate school fees especially the “dubi-ous and notorious” miscellaneous fees being collected in schools.

Kabataan Partylist Rep. Mong Palatino filed in Congress early this year House Resolution 832 which sought inquiry on “the rampant imposition of unjust, redundant, arbitrary and exorbitant miscellaneous fees in schools na-tionwide.”

“The clamor of students, parents and other stakeholders against the unmonitored and un-regulated school fees has led to the creation of a revised set of guidelines for the nature and collection of school fees. CHED and DepEd have been forced to draft guidelines which shall be subjected to the approval by con-cerned groups. What is more, these guidelines shall be implemented in the second semester of the academic year. This is good news for our students and parents,” Palatino said.

In the revised guidelines, all tuition and miscellaneous fees, in both basic and higher education, shall be consulted to parents and students. A list of ‘”basic fees” shall also be indicated to avoid what Palatino called “the creative yet unjust imposition of questionable school fees”.

Furthermore, the Congress Committee on Higher and Technical Education (CHTE) in a hearing last March affirmed the initiative of Kabataan Party-list through HR 834 to regulate the various fees nurses are required to pay in schools and hospitals nationwide.

During the hearing, it was established that nurses pay up to Php8,000 per month for six months for volunteer work in hospitals. Nurs-es complain that this scheme is unjust since nurse-volunteers are the ones paying hospi-tals which give them work at par with that of regular nurse employees.

Apart from the issue on volunteer fees, Pala-tino also raised the issue on other nursing fees not limited to affiliation fee, related learning experience fee, materials fee and training fee.

“On top of the expensive nursing tuition fee which can go as high as Php60,000 per semester, students have to pay other nursing fees which are utterly deregulated at present. That is a cause for grave concern because our nurses are being subjected to exploitation for the sake of profit-making,” Palatino said.

Meanwhile, KPL filed in Congress House Bill 4286 or the Tuition Regulation Bill to control tuition and other fee increases and empower students and parents by ensuring a democrat-

ic consultation and decision-making process.“The utterly deregulated character of tu-

ition and other fees sadly finds basis in our existing laws and policies. That should be remedied with the creation of new law that will strictly regulate the tuition increases and allow students, parents and members of the academic community to have democratic participation in the decision-making process,” Palatino said.

The National Union of Students of the Phil-ippines (NUSP) cited that in 2001 the national average of tuition and other fees in private higher educational institutions (PHEIs) was P257.41 per unit. It stressed that the rate has gone up to P501.22 (94.72%) in 2010.

In the National Capital Region (NCR), on the other hand, the average rate of tuition and other fees in 2001 was P439.59; it has in-creased to P980.54 (123.06%) in 2010.

The NUSP said that that a college student in the NCR with a 21-unit load has to produce an average of P20, 591 per semester, excluding other school needs such as food, materials and transportation.

Palatino noted that tuition and other fee in tertiary schools nationwide increase an aver-age of 10-15% yearly. He added that most in-creases do no undergo any form of democratic consultation with students, parents and other concerned sectors.

“The unabated tuition and other fee increas-es have effectively transformed our schools as ripe venues for aggressive profit-making. Many rich and powerful businesspeople have already ventured into owning schools, allow-ing them to rake in millions yearly. Despite their high earnings, yearly tuition and other fee increases are still imposed as schools rea-son out that more money is needed for opera-tion expenses,” Palatino said.

Palatino clarified however that “while it is true that a number of schools need the in-crease to prevent themselves from closing down, this remains the exception rather than the rule. The fact remains that the process of increasing tuition and other fees takes place within the context of rampant deregulation, big school earnings and the lack of democra-tized participation from students, parents and members of the academic community.”

“The country’s education system has be-come so commercialized to the point that it is now a custom that private schools increase tuition and other fees yearly,” he said.

“The tuition increase will definitely aggra-vate the effect of the current price hikes. We have to foment a critical mass movement to crub this trend,” he added.

Netizens, Kabataan gear up fight for better internetThe United Nations has recently declared

internet access as a basic human right and the government must undertake concrete steps to ensure universal access to the inter-net, said Kabataan Party-list (KPL) Rep. Ray-mond Palatino, a pioneer in Congress in the advocacy of democratizing internet access for active citizenship and nation-building.

“Today’s era of information technology has brought about rapid development in wir-ing billions of people to the internet. The UN report affirms our campaign in making this technological development available to all Filipinos. The internet is undeniably useful to aid our collective quest for personal and social progress,” Palatino said.

According to a UN report, the internet is “…one of the most powerful instruments of the 21st century for increasing transparency in the conduct of the powerful, access to informa-tion, and for facilitating active citizen partici-pation in building democratic societies.”

Early this year, Palatino filed in Congress House Bill no. 4271 or the “Free Public Wi-Fi Act” which aims to make “free internet connec-tion available in buildings of all government-related offices including regional and satellite offices, municipal halls, provincial capitols, state universities and colleges, public parks and plazas, public hospitals and public trans-portation terminals such as airports and bus stations.”

Palatino clarifies, however, that “free in-ternet access should be an aid, rather than a replacement, to political forms of social en-gagement with genuine change and progress as goals.”

“Universal access to the internet should not be seen as an end in itself. It is a means with which we propel the participation of the people to social development. We should not dangerously see the internet as our ultimate weapon in combating poverty, corruption and other social ills,” Palatino said.

Meanwhile, the blogger-turned solon also said that in order to democratize internet ac-cess, the government should also look and put an end into the abusive practices of telecom-munication companies.

KPL has called for an investigation of sub-standard commercial broadband internet ser-vices in the country through House Resolution 407 which calls for an inquiry on the quality of broadband internet services delivered by commercial telecommunication companies.

Palatino said that while telecommunication companies charge consumers with exorbitant rates for broadband internet access, consum-ers continue to complain of problems such as limited coverage of broadband services and internet speeds not reflective of its marketing claims.

In partnership the House Committee on Information and Communications Technology and other lawmakers, KPL also took part in or-ganizing the first-ever public consultation last February which geared up the fight for better internet in the country.

Among the issues raised by netizens in the consultation include overbilling, exorbitant fees, slow, unreliable and sub-par broadband internet connections, limited network cov-erage, and questionable practices like data-capping, “burstible speeds” and long contract periods.

'Reorient the Sangguniang Kabataan'Amid proposals to abolish the Sang-

guniang Kabataan, Kabataan Partylist is pushing for reforms in the youth body and proposes to transform the SK into a youth watchdog versus corruption and misgover-nance.

“We should not put to waste this large net-work of young Filipinos who want to partici-pate in government and community service. Why not tap the SK and launch a nationwide campaign against corruption and misgover-nance, train the youth to be advocates of new politics from the barangay level up?” said Pala-tino.

Palatino said this will “invigorate” the SK and will help develop a new breed of leaders. He said that the young people just need “a little encouragement” and a “progressive frame-work.”

The youth solon said that while the reasons

put forward by the SK abolitionists such as corruption and misgovernance are “legitimate and not without basis”, the proposed abolition is “:somewhat an exaggeration and not sub-stantial enough to convince me that it is the best solution to address the problems beset-ting the youth institution.”

“Indeed, there is corruption in the bureau-cracy from the national to the local levels. Unfortunately, even some SK leaders are in-volved. Political dynasties are also extending their nefarious sphere of influence down to the SK level. (Trapo for adults and Bimbo for young politicians – Batang Itinulak ng Magu-lang sa Pulitika). The idealism of the youth is wasted when SK leaders mutate into young trapo monsters,” he said.

He added, “These negative features of the SK reflect the bankrupt character of Philipine

CONTINUED ON PAGE 6

Sulong SK

Kabataan Party-List gave an afternoon seminar for the Sangguniang Kabataan Federation of Ilagan, Isabela during on their “Lakbay Aral” trip in Subic, Zambales.

NEWS 3

REGIONAL NEWS‘CALAMBA 7’ RELEASED UPON P12K BAIL

CALAMBA CITY — The seven activists arrested last June 19 after holding a lightning rally during President Benigno Aquino III’s speech in commemoration of Jose Rizal’s

150th birth anniversary in Calamba, Laguna were released after posting a P12,000 bail. Collectively known as the Calamba 7, the group includes Kabataan Partylist-UP Los

Banos members Michael Jayson Mozo, Catherine Gigantone, Ruffa Solano, Ynik Ante and Bhen Aguihon and Anakpawis-Southern Tagalog members Joefrey Barreto and Rodel Ba-dayos. The charges of public disturbance and tumult filed against them, however, were not dropped by the court.

“We are calling for the immediate dismissal of the charges filed against the seven ac-tivists that were illegally arrested and detained. Unless the case is dropped, justice is not served to the Calamba 7,” John Paolo Bautista, Kabataan Partylist-ST coordinator, said. He added that the seven activists were merely exercising their Constitutionally-guaranteed right to freedom of expression.

The Presidential Security Group and the Calamba police arrested the activists after the militant youth group began chanting calls such as “Walang pagbabago sa ilalim ni Aqui-no!”, “Edukasyon karapatan ng mamamayan!” and “Tunay na reporma sa lupa, ipaglaban!” midway through President Aquino’s speech commending Rizal’s commitment to the fight for social justice.

Bautista said the Calamba 7 owe their release not to the good graces of the police and the Aquino administration but to the unwavering support of individuals, groups and alli-ances that rushed to their aid since they were arrested last Sunday.

KABATAAN PARTYLIST PANAY TO HOLD ILONGGO YOUTH CONVENTION

Kabataan Partylist-Panay is spearheading the Ilonggo Youth Convention 2011 of over a hundred Iloilo-based youth and student leaders to tackle the worsening crisis of

the educational system and demand urgent solutions from government on July 9, 2011 at the UPV Iloilo City campus.

The youth party will also hold a State of the Youth Address nationwide protest on July 19and join massive youth and student rallies during the July 25 State of the Nation Address (SONA) alongside the pushing of an education reform agenda within the halls of Congress.

“Youths and students were the first to lead massive protests against the Aquino admin-istration last year with nationwide campus strikes and walkouts and almost a thousand angry students marching in the streets of Iloilo City against education budget cuts. We can expect the same if Aquino’s administration continues to pursue the same anti-youth, anti-people, and anti-education policies," Kabataan Partylist-Panay Regional Coordinator Karlo Mikhail Mongaya said.

KABATAAN PARTYLIST ILOCOS SET UP ‘KABATAAN WALL POST FOR EDUCATION’

SAN FERNANDO, La Union — Kabataan Partylist Ilocos greeted the first day of classes with an activity on the state of education in the province of La Union at the Don

Mariano Marcos Memorial State University- South La Union Campus and at the San Fer-nando City Playground Area.

“We’ve come up with the idea of posting comments on a giant Facebook wall to air the remarks of students, parents and the youth regarding tuition and other fee increases,” said Dennise Galang, Chairperson of College Editors Guild of the Philippines-La Union Chapter.

The giant Facebook wall was flooded with comments and calls on education issues and local problems.

Among the posts said: “Nangina ti tuition, agsakit pa’t ulok nga makakita aglalo ti bulsa ni mama ken papa. Five digits gamin e”; “sana libre nalang ang tuition fee para sa mga kabataan”; “sana makagamit rin ang mga batang mahihirap ng book.”

According to data collated by Kabataan Partylist-La Union, four private institutions were granted tuition fee increase by the Commission on Higher Education. The list includes Lor-ma Colleges, Union Christian College, Saint Louis College and La Union College for Science and Technology; by 5 to 10 percent rate up on tuition fees. Miscellaneous fees had also gone up based on the assessment forms of students collated by the group.

From P368.689 per unit last semester, a regular nursing student enrolled in UCC must pay for P405.55 per unit, a P36.87 pesos additional expense on the tuition. On the other hand, a nursing student in Lorma Colleges shall pay an average of P20, 000 per semester for the tuition and other miscellaneous fees.

DEPED’S ADM NOT A SOLUTION TO CLASSROOM SHORTAGE- KPL DAVAO

DAVAO CITY — Kabataan Partylist expressed dissent towards the Alternative Deliv-ery Mode that is being eyed by the Department of Education as a solution to ad-

dress shortage of classrooms. “In reducing the number of school hours, merging different grade levels, and using computer-aided instruction, the DepEd is worsening further the crisis in the educational system,” said Ronnie Clarion, Kabataan Partylist Southern Mind-anao Region Spokesperson.

Under the ADM, the DepEd requires students at home to make use of computer-aided instructions to study as an alternative to the teacher-student approach in learning the les-sons when not in school.

“This, however, would mean another burden to the parents especially for those who cannot afford to buy computer units and pay for a home internet access,” Clarion said.

“The DepEd is actually not considering the condition of families while it is making education less serious in an attempt to let the students, without supervision, study their subjects. Moreover, by leaving the burden to the parents in providing their children the computer-aided instructions which the DepEd primarily recommends, is essentially avoid-ing responsibility to provide essentials such as books and other materials,” Clarion said.

DepEd has also eyed the multi-grade schools usually observed in rural areas as another option to resolve the insufficient number of teachers. Multi-grade schools are schools where 1st and 2nd grade pupils only have one teacher, same with 3rd and 4th grade pupils. Classes are held simultaneously.

“The DepEd is driving at a point to further intensify the dire condition of our students and teachers. This is a blatant admission of irresponsibility. While we are expecting this government to equally address the condition in basic education both in rural and urban areas, it is more willing to make as an option the old-fashioned means of teaching our students,” Clarion added.

KPL seeks probe on LGBT discrimination in schools

Kabataan Party-list is seeking a congres-sional probe into the discrimination faced by lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders in schools.

In filing House Resolution 1333, which seeks to investigate “prejudicial, discrimi-natory, and unjust practices and policies” against LGBTs “implemented and tolerated” in schools, the youth representative hopes to shed light on the plight of LGBTs in the aca-demic setting.

According to KPL National Coordinator Athena Gardon, students who are LGBT, or are perceived to be LGBT, or who associate with LGBT people have been and are subjected to pervasive discrimination, including harass-ment, bullying, intimidation and violence, thus depriving them of equal educational op-portunities.

Gardon stressed the need to highlight such issues especially since our schools “should be a place that is nurturing and caring, not sex-ist, homophobic and transphobic.”

PROGAY, a progressive organization of LG-BTs in the Philippines, has recorded several dis-criminatory practices inside schools, among which are: the humiliation by classmates, teachers and other school personnel; the prohibition and even expulsion of LGBTs who cross dress—i.e. gays and transgenders wear-ing blouses or lesbians and tomboys wearing pants—inside schools; the conduct of arbi-trary examinations intended to measure the “masculinity” of applicants for the school, with the intention of weeding out gay students and with those failing the said examinations facing unjust probation; the discrimination of LGBTs when applying to join student organizations, fraternities and sororities.

Gardon said that “the culture of hate, dis-crimination and violence against LGBTs being reinforced inside the academe does not bode well for the development of the LGBT youth inside the academe. This also hinders the real-ization of their full potentials as human beings who are members of the society.”

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Members of Kabataan Partylist Ilocos set up a “Facebook Wall Post for Education” wherein the demands for higher education budget, recognition of students rights and welfare, and decent jobs for the youth were “posted”.

House approves anti- ‘no permit, no exam bill on 2nd reading

The House of Representatives approved on second reading the bill introduced

by Kabataan Partylist prohibiting the “no per-mit, no exam” policy in colleges, universities and vocational schools nationwide.

Originally filed by the sole youth party-list during the 14th Congress, the bill seeks to address the problem of students incurring in-complete grades and being embarrassed by failure to take midterm and final examinations because of unpaid school fees.

HB 4791, the consolidated version of the bill endorsed by the Committee on Higher and Technical Education stipulates that it is unlaw-ful for any tertiary educational institution, in-cluding those offering vocational courses, to disallow any student from taking exams be-cause of pending arrears.

It also imposes a fine of P20,000 to P50,000 for every violation committed by any school official, dean, coordinator, adviser, professor, instructor, or employee.

The original version of the bill, HB 807 in-cluded all levels of all educational institutions in the country but was opposed by congress-men notorious for defending the interests of some private schools.

Palatino said he is hopeful that the Senate version of the bill would cover primary, sec-ondary and tertiary schools in the country. The Senate committee on education, arts and culture is set to adopt the bill from the Lower

and culture is set to adopt the bill from the Lower House.

The youth solon said that he finds as “aca-demically questionable” the school measures that gauge the students’ intelligence based on their capacity to pay school fees before the set deadline.

“Why should a student get a failing mark just because he or she is not able to pay the skyrocketing fees on time? This glaring prac-tice in many schools smacks of corporate profiteering and is devoid of any nurturing quality that schools should ideally have in abundance,” he said.

Palatino said, “The government should ensure that the youth’s right to education is not compromised due to financial difficulties. Dapat lamang na parusahan ng gobyerno ang mga kolehiyo at unibersidad na itinuturing ang edukasyon bilang isang negosyo. Educa-tional institutions should not act as capitalist-educators especially in light of low wages and rising cost of basic commodities.

Palatino said the “no permit, no exam” pol-icy contributes to the already dire situation of decreasing access to education under the Noynoy Aquino regime.

“Maraming estudyante ang hindi nakapag-papatuloy ng kanilang pag-aaral dahil hina-hayaan ng gobyerno ang mga kolehiyo na mag-impose ng ganitong mapagsamantalang regulasyon sa mga paaralan,” he said.

Isang DekadaPakikisangkot. Pakikitunggali. Pagbalikwas. Pagsulong. Pagpapatuloy. Maraming mga salitang maaaring mag-salarawan sa isang dekadang lumipas, ngunit mahirap marahil na ibuod sa isang salita ang daang tinahak ng Kabataan Party-list. Bukod sa pagiging natatanging kinatawan ng kabataan sa Kongreso ngayon, ang KPL ay isang organisasyong gumagap sa tunay na interes, karapatan, at aspirasyon ng kabataang Pilipino at nagbuklod sa mga kabataang nangahas na ipaglaban at isulong ang mga ito.

The history of the nation is replete with heroic and gallant deeds of young Filipinos. From the battle for independence during the time of colonialism to the struggle for democracy at the height of martial rule, the youth was a vibrant force for change. We witnessed another display of the dy-

namism of the youth during People Power II. Students and youth contributed immensely in this fight by swelling the ranks of people who believe in change and infused the movement with zeal, vigor and purpose. After the ouster of President Estrada from power, leaders of Anakbayan, League of Filipino Stu-dents, Student Christian Movement, National Union of Students, College Editors Guild and members of the Estrada Resign Youth Movement held a caucus in Anakbayan office in Padre Noval, Sampaloc, Manila to discuss the means to advance further the concerns of the youth in the politics of the country. The group recognized the important role of the youth in the society but noted the lack of a reliable party that will consistently fight for their interests.

Recognizing that the youth continue to be a marginalized force in the society, the group agreed to form a youth sectoral party that shall serve as an accompanying weapon in the fulfillment of youth empower-ment in the cou try.

Out of this consensus, Ang Nagkakaisang Kabataan Para sa Sambayanan (United Youth for the Peo-ple) or ANAK ng BAYAN was born—a united youth waging a crusade for a bright future through genuine nation-building and social transformation. The new party seeks to advance the politics of struggle and hope against the dominant politics of the country which promises a bleak future for the youth. This is the political party of the youth, by the youth, and for the youth. The founding convention of the Party was held on June 19, 2001 at the Vinzon’s Hall, UP Diliman. Attended by 25 representatives of different youth organizations, the Convention approved the Party’s constitution, by-laws, general program and elected its national officers. The birth of ANAK ng BAYAN coincided with the 140th birth anniversary of Dr. Jose Rizal, the country’s national hero and an exemplary role model for the Filipino youth. Like Rizal, the Party

believes that the future of the nation lies on the youth and their commitment to love and serve the coun-try must be exhorted at all times. Recruitment of members and establishment of chapters in the regions followed soon as it sparked enthusiasm among the youth. The first National Council meeting held on May 23, 2002, in Malaybalay, Bukidnon reported that ANAK ng BAYAN has reached a membership in nine regions of the country, which means the group already has a national constituency. During the expanded National Council meeting on June 8-12, 2003 in Angeles, Pampanga, the Party decided to run in the 2004 elections as the youth representative in the party-list elections.

ANAK ng BAYAN participated in the 2004 elections despite meager resources and lacking in electoral experience. However, the Party was able to marshal the overwhelming support of student and youth organizations throughout the country. Thousands of young volunteers helped during the electoral cam-paign. Local leaders from different provinces endorsed ANAK ng BAYAN. ANAK ng BAYAN fared well in the surveys before the election but during the counting of votes, it failed to clinch the minimum number of votes to gain a seat in Congress. The Party was a principal target of military harassment and dagdag-bawas (vote padding and shaving). The Party’s loss was blamed on electoral violence and cheating.

After the elections, ANAK ng BAYAN continued its mission of promoting the welfare of the youth. It sponsored various activities in schools and communities to articulate the problems of our young people. It conducted vigorous lobbying efforts in various government agencies to advance the interests of the youth sector. There were proposals from regional chapters to change the name of the Party to avoid confusion with other partylist groups with names sounding similar to ANAK ng BAYAN. The decision to change the Party’s name was endorsed by the National Council to the National Convention last Novem-ber 2005. After a nationwide consultation, the leaders and members of ANAK ng BAYAN adopted Ka-bataan Party as the new name of our youth sectoral party.

Kabataan Party continues to make history for being the only youth party in the country.

Anak ng Bayan Caravan, 2004

Anak ng Bayan Mural, 2004

Lightning Rally at Batasan, 2004

Mobilization against elec-toral fraud, 2005

Mobilization against electoral fraud, 2005

Kabataan Partylist with endorsed candidates, 2007

Voter’s Registration Campaign, 2007

Kabataan Partylist nominees for the 2007 elections, 2007

Labor Day rally, 2007

National convention, 2009

SUCs Budget Hearing, 2010

National Day of Action vs. Budget Cuts, 2010

Student Strike vs. Education Budget Cuts, 2010Birthday Anniversary of Dr. Jose Rizal and KPL Anniversary, 2009

NOYNOY AQUINO“When I was still in the Guest House, I asked for

the logs which listed those who had visited President Marcos. I compared them with those visiting President Aquino. They were the same people – they came from the same companies, shared the same business views, the same mindset, and they went to the same parties.” – Joker Arroyo, June 28, 1992 Sunday Inquirer Maga-zine

Cory used her People Power mandate to restore the wealth and influence of the pre-Marcos oligarchs. Despite being a revolutionary president for a brief pe-riod, the only revolutionary legacy left by Cory was the revival of the privileges of the cacique class to which she belongs.

Meanwhile, Gloria tapped the unfinished potential of People Power to assume the presidency. But unlike Cory, she didn’t establish a revolutionary government to clip the powers of her predecessor. She preferred instead to maximize the built-in authoritarian features of the political system to strengthen her rule.

Cory the People Power president was caricatured as Cory Calamity at the end of her term. On the oth-er hand, Gloria the second people Power president would become the most unpopular leader in the country’s modern history. Will Noynoy, the new yellow king, suffer the same fate of Cory and Gloria?

In 1986 and 2001, there were visible collectives in the streets. People Power was understood as the con-crete and determined set of actions of the people, of the “boss”, in public spaces. Today, the streets are quiet. Wangwangs could be heard because the visible collectives have been silenced.

Despite the desperate but pathetic attempt of the liberaloids to replay the People Power sequence, there was no spectacular public uprising this year. Indeed, Noy apologists summoned the eternal appeal of Peo-ple Power but they did so for electioneering purposes. They reduced People Power into miniature and safe political actions by advising the public to wear yellow ribbons and to vote for Noy.

After Edsa Tres, Gloria rejected the idea of People Power since she was afraid of its real subversive poten-tial to refashion a new social order. Noy and his facto-tums are perhaps worse than Gloria since they diluted the radical content of People Power by transforming it into an election tactic.

The absence of visible People Power means the people, the “boss”, have weaker influence in the new government compared to traditional power groups like big business, the U.S., and Danding. The threat of People Power is essential to demand small but sym-bolic reforms from the new president. People Power

convinced Cory to release political prisoners in 1986 and to enact a token land reform program in 1987. People Power forced Gloria to resume the peace talks with armed rebels in 2001. If there is People Power today, it has been copyrighted already by the yellow army generals surrounding Noy. Beware: these creatures are behind the billion-peso peace bonds racket and the Strong Republic mantra of the early Arroyo years.

If there was no People Power, how did Noy win? Arroyo was intensely hated by the public and Noy benefited by fanning the anti-Arroyo flames in the country. He also had to thank Kris for the masa appeal and kamag-anak Danding for the bil-lions. Journalists have already exposed the substantial contribution of Wall Street to the campaign kitty of Barack Obama. When will local journalists report that Noy spent more than his rivals during the campaign period? When will the media iden-tify the big business campaign donors of Noy?

Noy’s hairline is unimportant. What is crucial is to name him for what he really is: a conservative politician representing the interest of the landlord elite. Noynoy’s adoption of the PNoy persona popularized by erstwhile critical media networks is (to rephrase Pierre Bourdieu) a very smart and very modern repackaging of the

oldest ideas of the oldest reactionaries. Noy’s class background, political thinking, and even the circum-stances of his election victory mean that PNoy doesn’t symbolize change; it is a desire (even nostalgia) for the preservation of the old order.

I agree with Antonio Negri when he asserted that the 20th century is impossible reformism. Negri of course was referring to capitalism in the 20th cen-tury which can only exist as reformism. In a different context, we can cite the modern political history of the Philippines as a symptom of the impossibility of reformism. After 1946, the system functioned for two decades but it suffered a crisis which allowed Marcos to rule as dictator until 1986. Cory tried to rehabili-tate the state machinery by restoring the pre-Marcos structures of power. The system functioned again for almost two decades but it also went into self-destruct mode which allowed Arroyo to rule for one decade. Noy now wants us to join him in the righteous path and most likely the path he is preparing would lead us back to where his mother had brought us.

Marcos and Gloria are both unloved by the people but their admirers insist that infrastructure projects were their best legacies. Did Gloria finish what Mar-cos started but failed to complete in 1986? Is Noy’s role then to fulfill the broken dreams and promises of Edsa?

What if the system is really designed to fail? Two decades of brutal social and political experimenta-tion, then a brief reformist phase. That Marcos-Arroyo figures would always rise since they are necessary evil elements to prevent the system from disintegrating. That Cory-Noy heroic figures are bound to appear and reappear to restore factory settings in the system. Is this the best of all possible worlds? Is this the best the system can offer? Is reformism the only option to re-fresh the political project?

Hegel’s concept of “surpassing” is instructive. Ac-cording to him (via Badiou), “the finite is what comes out of itself only in order to remain within itself. The finite is what surpasses itself within itself. Instead of

analteration of self there is only an iteration.”Did we survive the nightmarish Marcos-like Arroyo

years so that we will endure the Cory-like PNoy years? Oh dear. Is this change?

The proposal is to think of a politics that would in-terrupt the bad cycle. Politics that does not advocate mere repetition but an unrepeatable political event. The task is not just to unmask PNoy. The greater chal-lenge is to finish the revolutionary project of the 20th century

FEATURES

‘The task is not just to unmask

PNoy. The great-er challenge is to

finish the revo-lutionary project of the 20th cen-

tury.’

6 FEATURES 7

The State of Philippine EducationPrivilege Speech of Rep. Raymond PalatinoDelivered on May 30, 2011

Mr. Speaker, dear colleagues, a pleasant afternoon.

I rise to discuss a pressing matter that af-fects our 55 million youths. It is our education system and the attendant problems plagu-ing it. The fast-approaching school opening is the first under the administration of Presi-dent Benigno Aquino III and it is crucial that we put on the table these education issues as they will contour the policies we should cre-ate. As the only youth representative of this body, I believe it is my duty to report the state of Philippine education to my esteemed col-leagues here in Congress. Likewise, I believe that it is our collective duty as servants of the people to substantially address these educa-tion problems once and for all.

So where do we stand today? Last week, our three education agencies – DEPED, CHED, TESDA – conducted an education forum which proved informative if only for substan-tiating the claim that our education system needs urgent actions. To borrow the descrip-tion of one of our education secretaries, the Philippine education system is in chaos. And rightly so. Chaotic is the word that befits the long-standing crisis that lays hold of our education system. This description provides a convenient transition to discuss the many woes of our education sector.

To briefly sketch the survival rate of our youths in schools , allow me to share an ex-ample which I believe is familiar to many. Of the 100 pupils that enter grade 1, only 66 will finish grade six; 58 will enroll in 1st year; 43 will finish high school; 33 will enter college; and only 21 will eventually graduate, and this 21 graduates are not even sure to land a job. A question worth asking, Mr. Speaker, is: what will happen to the 79 youths who did not make it? Your guess is as good as mine, Mr. Speaker.

A quick glance at the outside world is enough to provide us a concrete face for these out-of-school youths – they are the young workers in construction, they are the young involved in drugs and prostitution, they are the sellers who knock at our car win-dows, they are the passionate dreamers who painfully awakened to the grim reality that they just have to waive their dreams of be-coming scientists, doctors, engineers, teach-ers.

Mr. Speaker, colleagues, our education system has become so inaccessible over the years that more and more of our youth are forced to stop studying altogether. It is with regret that I say that we are in many ways ac-countable for this crisis. The insufficient gov-ernment spending to basic social services like education remains to be a major issue that paralyzes the qualitative functioning of our education system.

Allow me now to go into specifics and tack-le basic education. For 2011, it is a welcome

development that there is a slight increase in the budget of basic education. From a P175 billion budget last year, it grew by 18% to P207 billion this year. Yet this despite this increase, it is crucial to note that the increase remains grossly insufficient in addressing the needs of basic education.

This lack of budget, regrettably, imperils a smooth school opening as shortages in text-books, chairs, classrooms and teachers con-tinue to plague basic education.

Mr. Speaker, colleagues, how can basic edu-cation qualitatively function in the context of these dire shortages? Our students cannot properly learn if, in the first place, there are no sufficient classrooms to study in, chairs to seat on, teachers to learn from, and textbooks to read.

Our basic education woes force many pub-lic schools to pass the burden of making ends meet to the students and parents. Despite DepEd’s voluntary pay policy, students and parents complain of dipping into their limited resources to pay for various fees used for the Parent-Teacher Association, books and ma-terials, class requirements like film showings, school events, and so on.

Recent results from international tests which gauge the quality of basic education also do not paint a rosy picture for our country. The low scores of the Philippines in the Test-ing in Math and Science of Students (TIMSS), for instance, indicate that much still has to be improved in the quality of our basic education. Aware of the implications of these internation-al indicators, the Department of Education has been vocal in committing itself to focus on im-proving the quality of our basic education. The solution, or so we are told, is to add two more years in the basic education cycle. This plan is packaged as K-12.

For the record, Mr. speaker, I very much understand that added learning and training period in elementary and high school could be beneficial for our youth. The K-12 proposal, however, is rendered problematic by the con-text within which it is set to be implemented and the direction it intends to take.

In a study entitled “Length of School Cycle and the ‘Quality’ of Education”, educators Abraham Felipe and Carolina Porio aver that there is no correlation between the length of the school cycle and the quality of education. What is interesting is they made use of TIMSS as the basis for their study, the same indicator used by DepEd to justify improving the qual-ity of education through K-12. The findings of the study underscore the clear and irrefut-able evidence that some countries with the same school cycle as the Philippines have high scores; other countries with longer cycles than the Philippines have low scores.

In addition to this issue of non-correlation between the length of school-cycle and qual-ity of education, it is important that we also grasp the framework of K-12. Simply put: the plan wants to rapidly generate employable

high school graduates that will fill in the de-mands of the foreign market. Mr. Speaker, I be-lieve that to genuinely improve the quality of basic education, we should put a stop to plug-ging the dreams of our people to the demands of foreign market. Instead, our focus should be completely re-oriented to produce a holisti-cally trained workforce that contributes to na-tional industrialization and development.

It also strikes the eye that there is a clear dis-connect between the daring K-12 plan and the budget commitment from the government. In light of the budget deficits to finance the shortages of our basic education, K-12 can-not but appear as a recipe for disaster should DepEd push through with the plan. As it is, DepEd needs at least an additional P140.43 billion to eradicate the shortages, including funds for the growing number of our out-of-school youths.

Just as the current basic education prob-lems require careful analysis and logical solu-tions, so do the problems confronting tertiary education. Salient among the problems of higher education are quality and accessibility.

In the last three years, the passing rate in licensure examinations continues to decline across all disciplines [insert slide]. CHED also reveals that only 5.5% or 100 HEIs can be as-sumed to have adequate facilities [insert slide]. Amidst this decline in quality, tuition and other fees continue to increase which makes higher education inaccessible for our people. CHED’s argument that tuition and other fee increase (TOFI) translates to better facilities and higher salaries for teachers does not hold because 1) despite TOFI, majority of schools still have poor facilities. 2) the salary of many of our teachers does not automatically increase every TOFI, and in fact, has remained inadequate for the past years. All these while many school owners rake in millions every in-crease.

In a 2011 ranking of colleges and univer-sities in Asia which placed four Philippine schools in the top 200, the result underscores the dismal state of tertiary education in the country. It is worth noting that majority of the top Asian schools, including the leading Hong Kong University of Science and Technol-ogy, are universities substantially funded and supported by their respective governments. This appreciation for tertiary education starkly contrasts with the existing education policies in our country. Our State Universities and Col-leges (SUCs), for instance are neglected to ut-ter destitution and are increasingly pushed to commercialize themselves. [insert gdp slide)

Mr. Speaker, it will probably take me one whole day to thoroughly discuss the worsen-ing state of Philippine education. The afore-mentioned education realities may no longer sound new to many. It is also true that we have exerted countless efforts to alleviate the edu-cation crisis. Yet one cannot fail to notice that despite these efforts the education crisis con-tinues to intensify. This necessarily requires us to rethink timeworn education frameworks which legitimize government neglect of the education sector, hence opening this very field to be devoured by the market. Clearly, the policies that govern our education sector have to undergo a merciless rethinking in order to save the hope our youth possess. Without breaking away from education measures that compulsively fuel the very same problems we’ve had since time immemorial, we cannot expect to provide quality and accessible edu-cation for our youth. In the absence of quality and accessible education, it will be very hard for our youth to realize their historic role to help inaugurate genuine change and prosper-ity for our nation. The challenge for us lawmak-ers is to instigate effective political solutions which will make these education problems a thing of the past.

ALAY SINING UP DILIMAN

REORIENT... from page 2politics. We have been bad role models

for SK leaders. Instead of teaching them the principles of good governance, we have only exposed them to the worst features of politics. The weaknesses of SK point to the failure of the government to empower young people since the institution which is supposed to har-ness the leadership potential of the youth had been corrupted over the decades. It is shame-ful that dynasties are even using the SK to strengthen their monopolistic control of local political power.”

Palatino said, “If the SK is ineffective, it means we didn’t guide them correctly. We didn’t introduce creative types of projects and other services which the SK can implement in the grassroots.”

Kabataan Partylist has filed HB 1963 as one

of the means to reorient the SK. Palatino said that HB 1963 was formulated upon consulta-tions with the SK National Executive Board, the National Youth Commission and community-level SK leaders.

Included in the bill are the following pro-posals for reforms:

-Changing the age requirement for SK can-didates from 15 to 18 years old to 18 to years old to ensure that they have the legal capacity to perform their functions;

-Requiring SK units to deposit their funds in a bank preferably government-owned and granting SK units fiscal autonomy over their allotted budget;

-Requiring SK units to release a quarterly fi-nancial report to practice transparency and to curb corruption

-Mandating that the Katipunan ng mga

Kabataan (KK) function as the highest policy making body of the SK responsible for holding regular consultations with other youth-based organizations in the community;

-Empowering and encouraging the SK to engage in promoting basic rights such as quality education for all, secure youth employ-ment, sustainable development, human rights and social justice.

KPL has also launched a series of leadership training and seminars to introduce to SK lead-ers progressive leadership and the value of social engagement in political issues, among others. SK assemblies were held at Taguig, Cavite, Ilagan (Isabela), Santa (Ilocos Sur), Vigan (Ilocos Sur). Zamboanga del Sur, Paga-dian, Santa Maria (Ilocos Sur), Dinalupihan (Bataan) and Davao City.

AND ‘IMPOSSIBLE REFORMISM’Rep. Mong Palatino

LGBT... from page 3She furthered that discrimination, bullying,

intimidation and violence in school are con-tributing factors to high rates of absenteeism, dropout, adverse health consequences and academic underachievement among LGBT youths.

“It is high time for Congress to look into the issues confronting the LGBT sector. Concretely, Congress should enact measures that provide a legal definition of sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression and what con-stitutes discrimination against LGBTs. There should also be criminal or administrative punishment to ensure that those who com-mit such violations are penalized,” the youth leader said.

I. Itaguyod ang edukasyong pangmasa!A.Bigyan ng pinakamataas na prioridad sa pambansang badyet ang edukasyon ayon sa nakasaad sa Saligang Batas.Kailangang maglaan dito ng 6% ng GDP at 20% ng national budget upang agad na ma-puno ang mga kakulangan sa mga pasilidad, gamit, guro at mga kawaniMaaari itong magawa kung magdedeklara lamang ng debt cap o moratorium sa pagaba-bayad ng panlabas na utang ang pamahalaan B.Tiyakin na makatatapos ng elementarya at hayskul ang lahat ng kabataan.Ipatupad ang libreng preschool para sa lahat.Doblehin ang bilang ng mga hayskul sa bu-ong kapuluan.C.Gawing abot-kaya ang edukasyon sa antas kolehiyo.Itigil ang pribatisasyon at komersyalisasyon ng mga State Universities and Colleges. Paglaanan ang mga ito ng sapat na pondo.Ipatupad ang tatlong taong pahinto o mora-torium sa pagtataas ng matrikula at iba pang bayarin. Ito ay sa diwa ng deregulated at di makatarungang mga pagtataas sa nakaraang sampung taon. I-refund ang mga bayarin sa paaralan na ma-papatunayang di dumaan sa konsultasyon at

OUR EDUCATION AGENDAtamang proseso ng pagpataw. Ipatupad ang mahigpit na regulasyon sa mga pribadong paaralan maging sa usapin ng mga bayarin ng mga estudyante at seguridad sa trabaho ng mga guro at kawani.D.Punuan ang mga kakulangan sa guro, klas-rum, libro, at iba pang rekursong pampaara-lan.2. Isulong ang edukasyong pambansa at siyentipiko!A.Palakasin ang pagtuturo ng makabayang kasaysayan at kultura at paglilingkod sa sam-bayanan sa kurikulum.Ibasura ang labor export policy ng gobyerno na dinidireksyunan ang edukasyon at training system upang tumugon sa pandaigdigan de-mand para sa murang paggawa. B.Itaguyod ang paggamit ng wikang Filipino at mga lokal na wika at isulong ang angkop na paraan ng pagtuturo Ibasura ang E.O. 210 (Establishing the Policy to Strengthen the Use of the English Language as a Medium of Instruction in the Educational System).Suportahan ang lokal na produksyon ng mga libro, teksbuk, at iba pang babasahin sa Fili-pino at mga lokal na wika.C.Iayon ang sistema ng edukasyon sa mga

pangangailangan ng pambansang industri-yalisasyon at modernisasyon ng agrikultura.Payamanin at ipalaganap ang pagtuturo sa agham. Maglaan ng sapat na pondo para sa siyen-tipikong pananaliksik at pagpapaunlad.Paunlarin ang edukasyong vocational at tech-nical para sa industriya at agrikulturang lokal.Ipalaganap ang mulat na pangangalaga sa kalikasan.D.Ipalaganap ang kurikulum na nagtataguyod sa demokratikong pananaw na magwawaksi sa diskriminasyon batay sa uri, lahi, kasarian, relihiyon at iba pa. Kalakip nito ang kurikulum na sumusuri at nagusulong sa paglutas ng mga batayang isyu ng mamamayan sa lupa, sahod, trabaho at karapatan. 3. Itaguyod ang karapatan at kagalingan ng estudyante, guro, at kawani sa edukasyon.Irespeto ang karapatang magorganisa at mag-pahayag ng mga estudyante, guro at kawani sa mga paaralan. Ibasura ang Education Act of 1982, CHED Memo 13, ‘no permit, no exam’ at iba pang di makatarungang batas at polisiya sa edu-kasyon. Isapraktika ang demokratikong pagbubuo ng mga patakaran sa pampubliko at pribadong

mga paaralan na nakabatay sa konsultasyon at kapakanan ng nakararami. Itaas sa Salary Grade 15 ang mga pampub-likong guro at itumbas dito ang suweldo ng mga pampribadong guro.Pondohan nang sapat at ipatupad ang Magna Carta for Public School Teachers.Panagutin si Winston Garcia, isaayos ang GSIS, at kagyat na i-refund ang mga di-makatwirang kaltas sa mga miyembro. Irespeto ang job security ng kaguruan at kawani. Ipatupad ang mahigpit na regula-syon sa kontraktwal-isasyon sa sektor ng edu-kasyon.Palakasin ang karapatang mag-organisa at mag-unyon at karapatan sa collective bargain-ing ng mga guro at kawani.Tiyakin ang kaligtasan ng mga estudyante, guro at kawani at pangalagaan ang kanilang mga karapatang pantao. -Itigil ang mga pampulitikang pamamaslang!-Hustisya para kina Napoleon Pornasdoro, Vi-toria Samonte, Mark Francisco, Karen Empeno, Sherlyn Cadapan, at iba pang biktima ng pa-glabag sa karapatang pantao!

(Presented during the 2011 People’s Summit for Education Reforms last February 2011)

NEWS 8

ACCOMPLISHMENT REPORT

807 Anti-No Permit No Exam Bill808 Upgrading Public Libraries809 Philippine Games Bill1962 Debt Servicing Repeal/ 6% of GDP for Education 1963 SK Reform Bill2355 NSTP Reform Bill2356 CAT Abolishment/ Social Action Program Bill2592 BPO Workers Welfare and Protection Bill2676 Styrofoam Ban in Schools3061 Abolishment of Random Drug Testing in Schools3062 Human Rights Education Bill

3063 Indigenous Studies Bill3397 Free SPED Bill3708 Tuition Moratorium3838 Closed Caption Bill4112 Ban on Name Placemeent on Government Proj-

ects4113 National Book Drive Week4197 Basic Computer Literacy for Senior Citizens4237 National Young Martyrs Day4254 Scholarship to First-Born Child of Public School

Teachers4271 Public Wifi Bill4286 Tuition Regulation Bill4287 Campus Press Freedom Bill4332 Strictly Enforcing Occupational Safety and

Health Standards in Workplaces4337 Alternative Classes Bill4553 Bonifacio Bill4576 Philippine Cinema Appreciation Bill4842 Students Rights Bill

BILLS125 Truth Commission Office136 Oil Contracts Inquiry271 Live Streaming of Plenary Sessions and Commit-

tee Hearings272 Resolution on Violent Dispersal of High School

Students359 Anniversary of Rejection of Bases Treaty360 Urging the DENR to create an E-waste Recycling

Plan407 Inquiry on Quality of Broadband Services434 Inquiry on Nursing OJT Fees527 Occupational Safety of BPO Workers748 Adman 11 Overseas Filipino Workers799 Scrap Broadband Cap832 Inquiry on Dubious Miscellaneous Fees960 Inquiry on new NSCB Poverty Threshold 975 Inquiry on Implementation of Lobbying Law995 No Frills Graduation Rites1090 Proliferation of Language Centers1091 UP Cebu Controversy1092 Situation of Fastfood Workers1093 Inquiry on classification of Internet as Value

Added Service1142 Condemning US Armed Aggression vs Libya1149 Inquiry on Philippine History Curriculum1180 Inquiry on Navotas Demolition1256 Status of E-governance in the Philippines1286 Inquiry into the Killing of Anakbayan Member

Jerwin de Antonio1332 Inquiry on NSTP Fees1333 Inquiry on LGBT Discrimination in Schools1387 Urgin the Gov’t to Undertake Steps to Ensure

Universal Access to Internet in light of UN Report

RESOLUTIONS OUR LEGISLATIVE WORK (JUNE 2010- JUNE 2011)

PROJECTS

Construction of Auditorium, Ramon Magsaysay High School

Some of the completed projects of the Office of Rep. Raymond V. Palatino for the First Trancheof Fiscal Year 2010 funded under his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).

Repair and Rehabilitation of Charlie del Ro-sario Building, Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Sta. Mesa, Manila

Repair and Rehabilitation of Classroom, Quirino High School

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PRIVILEGE SPEECHES13 She Who Cannot Be Named in

the Plenary125 On Campus Strikes

191 EDSA Babies Unite247 State of Philippine Education

CONTACT USCONGRESS+63 (02) 931-5504+63 (02) 931-5001 loc. 7378Room 419, North WingBatasang Pambansa Complex,Batasan Heights, Quezon City

NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS+63 (02) 352-1054118-B Scout Rallos St.Brgy. Sacred Heart, Quezon City