Ateneo student strikers to Duterte: Anong silbi nyo? Wala

The organizers of the student strike at the Ateneo De Manila University stepped up their criticism of President Rodrigo Duterte a day after the Chief Executive said students should not worry about the government's response to COVID-19 and the impact of Typhoons Rolly and Ulysses.

In a statement, the students said Duterte should "stop talking nonsense."

"Our worry is justified because you have neglected to do the work demanded from a person in office. Ano ang silbi ninyo? Wala," the students said.

"We will continue with the strike as long as you keep killing Filipinos with your incompetence," they added.

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.

“You are taking the cudgels of the poor ahead of your time. That is not your worry, that is the worry of government,” Duterte said on Tuesday night.

Apparently told that the student strike was called by students of the University of the Philippines, Duterte said he would have the university de-funded indicating that it had become a recruitment ground of the Communist Party of the Philippines.

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. -NB, GMA News