'Babagsak po kayo,' Roque tells Ateneo students protesting gov't pandemic, typhoon response

Students of the Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) who called for an academic strike to protest the government’s pandemic and typhoon response will fail and not be able graduate, presidential spokesman Harry Roque claimed on Sunday.

“Babagsak po kayo,” he said in an interview. “Bilang isang dating propesor, kahit anong dahilan ng sinasabi niyong strike, ‘pag hindi kayo sumunod sa academic requirements, mawawalan kayo ng kinabukasan.”

Over 500 Ateneans earlier called for a student strike in protest against the Duterte administration’s “criminally neglectful” response to the onslaught of Typhoons Rolly and Ulysses as well as the coronavirus pandemic.

Ulysses alone claimed at least 67 lives while Rolly killed 25 Filipinos.

COVID-19, meanwhile, has led to 7,832 deaths and over 407,000 infections.

“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,” the students said in a statement.

For Roque, however, a strike will put the students’ futures in peril.

“Hindi kayo makaka-graduate sa Ateneo,” he warned.

The Guidon, ADMU’s official student paper, reported Sunday afternoon that the Vice President of the Loyola Schools granted a request for a one-week class suspension to allow Ateneans to recover from the impact of the typhoons.

Similar student strikes in 2000 eventually led to the ouster of then President Joseph Estrada. —JST, GMA News