Over 500 Ateneans call for student strike to protest gov’t’s ‘neglectful’ response to typhoons, pandemic

Over 500 Ateneans have called for a mass student strike to protest the government’s “criminally neglectful response” to the devastation caused by Typhoons Ulysses and Rolly and the COVID-19 pandemic as a whole.

A tweet by Ateneo de Manila University’s official student newspaper The Guidon on Saturday reported on the statement of the group, which said the students co-signed a mass strike statement and called on the university to “concentrate all efforts into helping the most vulnerable citizens of the Philippines.”

The group also pledged to “withhold the submission of any school requirements starting November 18, 2020 until the national government heeds the people’s demands for proper calamity aid and pandemic response.” 

“We believe that things cannot continue business as usual. We can no longer stomach the ever rising number of deaths due to the state’s blatant incompetence. We cannot prioritize our schoolwork when our countrymen are suffering unnecessarily at the hands of those in power,” said the students’ statement.

“We strike in solidarity with the students who are victims of calamities and of COVID-19, who cannot be expected to catch up with their studies within three to five working days,” it also said. 

“In addition, many Atenean students are leading or are part of initiatives that address what the Duterte administration has not been responsive to. On top of their responsibilities, these students have gone the extra mile to help our fellow Filipinos who are in dire need of assistance,” it added.

As of writing, ADMU’s student government just finished holding a meeting about the petition. – RC, GMA News