UP students criticize Duterte for threat of defunding university

Student leaders of the University of the Philippines hit President Rodrigo Duterte for his threat of defunding the school following the call of the Ateneo de Manila University students for academic strike.

In a statement, Froilan Cariaga of the University Student Council maintained that the COVID-19 pandemic and series of calamities challenged the implementation of distance learning.

“Duterte’s threats to defund UP ignore the very reason UP is calling for the end of the semester,” Cariaga said.

“The criminal neglect towards the pandemic and back to back calamities has made remote learning impossible for many students and professors,” he added.

For Anakbayan UP Diliman spokesperson Ajay Lagrimas, the response of Duterte only exposes himself as a fascist.

“It is clear. Duterte has no intentions of serving the people. And now, he attacks the legitimate calls of the youth with baseless accusations in an attempt to silence their growing dissent,” Lagrimas said.

“Attacks like this further justifies our action, and continued neglect will only push more and more UP students to the streets,” he added.

Aside from the threat, Duterte also accused UP student organizations of recruiting the youth into communist movement.

“‘Yung mga eskwelahan, UP, fine. Maghinto kayo ng aral, I will stop the funding. Wala nang ginawa itong ano kundi mag-recruit ng mga komunista diyan,” he said in his weekly address.

“I suggest to you, stop schooling until mabakunahan lahat ng Pilipino. You resume your duty and you wait for another typhoon and see if the help that we extend is enough to your satisfaction,” he added.

However, it was students from Ateneo not UP who led calls for an academic strike.

Over 500 Ateneans earlier called for a mass student strike to protest the government’s “criminally neglectful response” to the devastation from recent typhoons and to the COVID-19 pandemic.

UP Diliman students and faculty only launched a campaign calling for the end of semester and mass promotion of learners in their school . The petition was forwarded UP administration and received support from 3,000 students and 234 faculty members, as of Wednesday. -NB, GMA News