Their Myth of "Democracy" and "Misinformation"
As we move further into the historic week of the SR Referendum, in pursuance of the anti-democratic UP Charter provision requiring such, the Iskolars ng Bayan are bombarded with leaflets-upon-leaflets of positions by different student groups on the validity of their respective causes.
We need to do some fact-checks for a better understanding of the matter.
"We are merely for democracy, giving the students the opportunity to decide for themselves the conduct of the referendum and the substance of the matter to be decided upon."
In the history of the world, the word democracy has been used and abused by political groups with a clear political agenda. They use the democratic label to ultimately smokescreen their conservative and anti-people politics, to create a pseudo-progressive persona that serves as a supposed alternative to prevailing democratic institutions of the day. Yellow and reactionary trade unions call themselves "free", "independent" , "democratic" , "alternative" to create false impressions that the leading militant trade unions exist otherwise, albeit in a dogmatic, absolutely radical manner. But in the course of the existence of these "free and democratic" trade unions, they have exposed themselves as mere false gods of a misplaced understanding of democracy, by participating in acts and policy initiatives with the state that have effectively constricted the already limited rights of workers in the factories and countryside.
Today, democracy is again hoisted upon the heads of the Iskolars ng Bayan to make them believe that the students themselves are being pushed against the wall by an utterly undemocratic Student Regent and its minions for being unrelenting in opposing the appeals by a minority of student councils to change the referendum question and include their own proposals.
Their actions, at best, are the acts of desperate political groups who remain unyielding in defense of their already bankrupt positions on specific matters in the current CRSRS. Time and time again, their proposals have been rejected by a majority of student councils in the UP System through the GASC (General Assembly of Student Councils), a most effective democratic institution now created by statute.
They approach the students with the myth of a genuinely democratic SR Referendum by including their proposals, when in fact, batches upon batches of student leaders through the years and across the UP System have consistently rejected their proposals. To insinuate that there is greater democracy in subjecting questions directly to the electorate whilst forgetting the historic and democratic rejection of their proposals shows how clear the discourse on democracy is being peddled with great malice and vested interests. A consistent historic and democratic rejection by student leaders of their proposals is as democratic as subjecting the SR Referendum rules to a vote, and it is this historic rejection that we are submitting to the Iskolars ng Bayan for overwhelming affirmation today, to conclusively determine if indeed such a historic rejection is consistent with the aspirations of the present student body and not only by their duly elected representatives.
To force the Office of the Student Regent to include their proposals in the ballot is to invalidate the existence of the current CRSRS as a genuinely democratic document, to be subjected to the approval of the greatest democratic body, the students themselves. By insisting on their self-made myth of democracy, it is they that are clearly being undemocratic, by their obstinate refusal to respect decisions made by student leaders through a most democratic body, the GASC.
"Stop the misinformation, the Office of the Student Regent remains despite a failed referendum."
There is no debate that the Office of the Student Regent remains despite a failed referendum. But what we are clearly fearful of in such an eventuality is not the non-existence of an Office but the absence of a Student Regent to represent the Iskolars ng Bayan during the monthly Board of Regents meeting. The UP Administration can assure us all they want that Regent Abdulwahid shall continuously be recognized, but in the eventuality that she does vacate the Office due to whatever contingency such as her imminent graduation, among others, it is clear that there shall be no mechanism by which the next Student Regent can be chosen for as long as no referendum to approve the rules is validly approved by the students.
The greatest danger in such a situation is not the possibility of a Malacanang-appointed Regent, but the spectre of anti-student policy approvals by the UP Administration through the Board of Regents without representation or objection from our highest student institution. In the course of the weeks that passed, reports on a new round of tuition increases are spreading like wildfire, as provided by the statement of the UP President herself during an interview on cable television. In UP Manila, the next round of tuition increases in the UP College of Medicine are underway, using the same excuses as the tuition increases of 2006 but now pegging UP College of Medicine tuition at its actual market rate, thereby obliterating the promise of a more democratic medical institution by encouraging underprivileged students to enter the medical school through low tuition.
These are but mere examples of concrete anti-student policy initiatives in the coming months that shall come to pass in the event of a failed referendum, and the eventual absence of a sitting Student Regent. Whilst the student councils in the thick of the campaign to ensure the triumph of the referendum will vigorously campaign against these proposals in such an eventuality, the militant yet principled presence of the Student Regent in the Board of Regents is the most concrete manifestation of such an opposition to these measures.
The test of democracy and its unrelenting pursuance is not merely the physical act of providing venues by which the greatest number of persons may participate in the creation of policy, but also, whether rights of already underprivileged sectors are expanded and realized through the exercise of democratic processes and the establishment of democratic institutions.
The curtailment of democratic rights in the event of a delay in the selection of a Student Regent is an important facet of the democratic ideal that oppositors of the SR Referendum fail to recognize. However, such an understanding is clearly not expected because it is these student groups themselves that have been flip-flopping on countless student issues, particularly their flimsy and opportunist position on tuition and other fee increases, where they oppose tuition increases during election season whilst acknowledging the need for tuition increase/adjustments under certain conditions in official statements and congressional hearings.
It is in the pursuit of such an understanding of democracy that the Office of the Student Regent is vigorously fighting for the success of the SR Referendum, no other.
In the ultimate analysis, the students are faced with two roads to choose today. One road is the "democratic" road, where the reality of their conservative, traditional and reactionary politics abounds amid the smoke of their sugarcoated and simplified understanding of democracy, where they force their positions no matter what, despite historic rejections by democratic bodies, notwithstanding their willingness to subject the selection of the Student Regent to an unreasonable delay in curtailment of our right to representation in the Board of Regents. This is a journey into the woods, with no clear destination towards protecting our rights, other than securing points for their own vested interests.
The other road is one that is created and built by the laborious and historic struggle of Iskolars ng Bayan past and present, with the clear direction and destination of bringing us closer to the realization of our rights by ensuring the unhampered functioning of the Office of the Student Regent through the triumph of the SR Referendum and the immediate selection of a new Student Regent.
In all of these, there is no doubt which road is truly most democratic and representative of the true interests, hopes and aspirations of the Iskolars ng Bayan.
LEAGUE OF FILIPINO STUDENTS
University of the Philippines Diliman
We need to do some fact-checks for a better understanding of the matter.
"We are merely for democracy, giving the students the opportunity to decide for themselves the conduct of the referendum and the substance of the matter to be decided upon."
In the history of the world, the word democracy has been used and abused by political groups with a clear political agenda. They use the democratic label to ultimately smokescreen their conservative and anti-people politics, to create a pseudo-progressive persona that serves as a supposed alternative to prevailing democratic institutions of the day. Yellow and reactionary trade unions call themselves "free", "independent" , "democratic" , "alternative" to create false impressions that the leading militant trade unions exist otherwise, albeit in a dogmatic, absolutely radical manner. But in the course of the existence of these "free and democratic" trade unions, they have exposed themselves as mere false gods of a misplaced understanding of democracy, by participating in acts and policy initiatives with the state that have effectively constricted the already limited rights of workers in the factories and countryside.
Today, democracy is again hoisted upon the heads of the Iskolars ng Bayan to make them believe that the students themselves are being pushed against the wall by an utterly undemocratic Student Regent and its minions for being unrelenting in opposing the appeals by a minority of student councils to change the referendum question and include their own proposals.
Their actions, at best, are the acts of desperate political groups who remain unyielding in defense of their already bankrupt positions on specific matters in the current CRSRS. Time and time again, their proposals have been rejected by a majority of student councils in the UP System through the GASC (General Assembly of Student Councils), a most effective democratic institution now created by statute.
They approach the students with the myth of a genuinely democratic SR Referendum by including their proposals, when in fact, batches upon batches of student leaders through the years and across the UP System have consistently rejected their proposals. To insinuate that there is greater democracy in subjecting questions directly to the electorate whilst forgetting the historic and democratic rejection of their proposals shows how clear the discourse on democracy is being peddled with great malice and vested interests. A consistent historic and democratic rejection by student leaders of their proposals is as democratic as subjecting the SR Referendum rules to a vote, and it is this historic rejection that we are submitting to the Iskolars ng Bayan for overwhelming affirmation today, to conclusively determine if indeed such a historic rejection is consistent with the aspirations of the present student body and not only by their duly elected representatives.
To force the Office of the Student Regent to include their proposals in the ballot is to invalidate the existence of the current CRSRS as a genuinely democratic document, to be subjected to the approval of the greatest democratic body, the students themselves. By insisting on their self-made myth of democracy, it is they that are clearly being undemocratic, by their obstinate refusal to respect decisions made by student leaders through a most democratic body, the GASC.
"Stop the misinformation, the Office of the Student Regent remains despite a failed referendum."
There is no debate that the Office of the Student Regent remains despite a failed referendum. But what we are clearly fearful of in such an eventuality is not the non-existence of an Office but the absence of a Student Regent to represent the Iskolars ng Bayan during the monthly Board of Regents meeting. The UP Administration can assure us all they want that Regent Abdulwahid shall continuously be recognized, but in the eventuality that she does vacate the Office due to whatever contingency such as her imminent graduation, among others, it is clear that there shall be no mechanism by which the next Student Regent can be chosen for as long as no referendum to approve the rules is validly approved by the students.
The greatest danger in such a situation is not the possibility of a Malacanang-appointed Regent, but the spectre of anti-student policy approvals by the UP Administration through the Board of Regents without representation or objection from our highest student institution. In the course of the weeks that passed, reports on a new round of tuition increases are spreading like wildfire, as provided by the statement of the UP President herself during an interview on cable television. In UP Manila, the next round of tuition increases in the UP College of Medicine are underway, using the same excuses as the tuition increases of 2006 but now pegging UP College of Medicine tuition at its actual market rate, thereby obliterating the promise of a more democratic medical institution by encouraging underprivileged students to enter the medical school through low tuition.
These are but mere examples of concrete anti-student policy initiatives in the coming months that shall come to pass in the event of a failed referendum, and the eventual absence of a sitting Student Regent. Whilst the student councils in the thick of the campaign to ensure the triumph of the referendum will vigorously campaign against these proposals in such an eventuality, the militant yet principled presence of the Student Regent in the Board of Regents is the most concrete manifestation of such an opposition to these measures.
The test of democracy and its unrelenting pursuance is not merely the physical act of providing venues by which the greatest number of persons may participate in the creation of policy, but also, whether rights of already underprivileged sectors are expanded and realized through the exercise of democratic processes and the establishment of democratic institutions.
The curtailment of democratic rights in the event of a delay in the selection of a Student Regent is an important facet of the democratic ideal that oppositors of the SR Referendum fail to recognize. However, such an understanding is clearly not expected because it is these student groups themselves that have been flip-flopping on countless student issues, particularly their flimsy and opportunist position on tuition and other fee increases, where they oppose tuition increases during election season whilst acknowledging the need for tuition increase/adjustments under certain conditions in official statements and congressional hearings.
It is in the pursuit of such an understanding of democracy that the Office of the Student Regent is vigorously fighting for the success of the SR Referendum, no other.
In the ultimate analysis, the students are faced with two roads to choose today. One road is the "democratic" road, where the reality of their conservative, traditional and reactionary politics abounds amid the smoke of their sugarcoated and simplified understanding of democracy, where they force their positions no matter what, despite historic rejections by democratic bodies, notwithstanding their willingness to subject the selection of the Student Regent to an unreasonable delay in curtailment of our right to representation in the Board of Regents. This is a journey into the woods, with no clear destination towards protecting our rights, other than securing points for their own vested interests.
The other road is one that is created and built by the laborious and historic struggle of Iskolars ng Bayan past and present, with the clear direction and destination of bringing us closer to the realization of our rights by ensuring the unhampered functioning of the Office of the Student Regent through the triumph of the SR Referendum and the immediate selection of a new Student Regent.
In all of these, there is no doubt which road is truly most democratic and representative of the true interests, hopes and aspirations of the Iskolars ng Bayan.
LEAGUE OF FILIPINO STUDENTS
University of the Philippines Diliman