FILIPINO YOUTH SAY "NO TO NY STATE EDUCATION BUDGET CUT!"

Photos by John Miranda

PRESS STATEMENT
22 March 2009

Reference: Jonna Baldres, Secretary General, Anakbayan New York/New Jersey, anakbayan_ny@yahoo.com


FILIPINO YOUTH SAY "NO TO NY STATE EDUCATION BUDGET CUT!"


The city had spoken. And now, the state.

Anakbayan New York/New Jersey is one with the students of both the State University of New York (SUNY) and City University of New York (CUNY) in their demand for FREE EDUCATION FOR ALL.


The State of New York State Education

"Equal opportunity for all," a value that is both upheld by SUNY and CUNY, is now being threatened as Governor David Paterson shamelessly pushes for an anti-people state budget to be passed on April 1, slashing $698 Million from the education budget alone. The budget cuts are expected to raise the tuition fee for SUNY up to $620/school year, $600 for CUNY and $400 for community colleges.

While it had been reported that the state funding for these public schools increased in the last three years, the state support since the early 1990s did not actually grow at the same rate as the number of students who enrolled. To show the imbalance, Fiscal Policy Institute stated in its report that for 2008-2009, state funding for SUNY community colleges is almost the same as it was in 1991-1992, only up by 2%, while enrollment has increased up to 16%. In CUNY community colleges, the most drastic among the discrepancies, state funding plunged even lower by 9% while enrollment increased by 29%.


Immigrants and People of Color as Major Recipients of SUNY and CUNY Education

In the past decades, the influx of migrants into the United States had been massive as a result of globalization. To procure superprofit, the US imperialist extracts cheap labor from its semi-colonies to sustain output on the production of goods and rendering of services. In the Philippines alone, with the implementation of the Labor Export Policy (LEP) from the time of President Marcos up to the present Arroyo regime, and also in response to the worsening economic and political crisis in the country, 4 million Filipinos have migrated to the United States since the 1970's, including their families. This adds up to the number of immigrants enrolling in public schools in the US.

As immigrants and people of color, it is notable that only a few could make it to the top of the workforce, while the rest would have to do with the menial jobs that are readily available but given less compensation. As in any capitalist society, those in the top are paid more than those in the bottom. This then reflects on the capacity to purchase goods and services, including education. For most people of color, including parents of Filipino youth, public education is their only hope for their children to acquire skills and knowledge that are required to eventually join the workforce, get paid reasonable amount and earn for a living once they graduate.


Privatization of NY State Education and Misallocation of Taxpayers' Funds

However, as the state presents its budget in less than 2 weeks, we are alarmed that the "public" education that is supposedly accessible to all US citizens and immigrants is slowly turning into "private" education, making it accessible only to those who can afford to pay the increasing tuition fees. How is SUNY or CUNY then any different from private institutions such as New York University (NYU), Cornell University, or any other high-paying institutions in the New York state? Is this actually what the state calls "Equal opportunity for all"?

More alarming is the fact that while the state budget on education is being reduced, more funds and US troops are sent to support the militarization and war on terror back in our homeland, as conveyed in US President Obama's expression of support for the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) of the Arroyo administration. This support, we have more than enough reasons to believe, definitely will be used only in killing and exploiting more of our people for the US imperialist and the Philippine bureaucrat-capitalists' power-hungry and self-serving agenda. Only two months into Obama's administration, we ask: How is he any different from Bush?


In Solidarity with SUNY and CUNY Students

In the past weeks, youth and student groups have been mobilizing and organizing around the issue of budget cuts. Even in the Philippines and in other parts of the world, the slightest threat of cutting state subsidy for basic services are met with great clamor from the people.

This coming March 25, we, Anakbayan New York/New Jersey, in holding true to the tradition of the Filipino youth and people's militance, stand up with the students of SUNY and CUNY in this unwavering fight for everyone's basic human right: FREE EDUCATION. ###

JUSTICE for REBELYN PITAO!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PRESS STATEMENT
12 March 2009


Reference: Jonna Baldres, Secretary General, Anakbayan New York/New Jersey, anakbayan_ny@yahoo.com


ANAKBAYAN NEW YORK/NEW JERSEY STATEMENT ON THE ABDUCTION AND KILLING OF REBELYN PITAO


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coward |ˈkou-ərd|
noun
a person who lacks the courage to do or endure dangerous or unpleasant things.

-----------------------------------


Coward.

This is how Anakbayan New York/New Jersey tags the Arroyo government for taking upon Rebelyn Pitao its desperation in failure to catch her father, Leoncio Pitao, also known as New People's Army (NPA) Commander Parago. Bringing out one's anger on somebody else and not directly confronting the person one has differences with can only be considered as nothing else but an act of cowardice.

And we, the Filipino youth of New York/New Jersey, strongly condemn the barbaric acts carried out on Rebelyn, a 20-year-old gradeschool teacher in St. Peter College in Toril, Davao City, who was abducted by armed men and taken away in a white van while riding in a tricycle on her way home from school on March 4, 2009. She was later found tortured, raped and killed with five stabs of ice pick the next day floating on a river.

For years, this distinct form of abduction and torture has been the trademark of the suspected military elements of the Philippine government who perform these executions on anyone speaking against the government's crimes against the Filipino people, or on anyone believed to be members or sympathizers of the NPA or of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).

In this particular case, however, Rebelyn was not even a member of any political organizations and yet the government crossed the line once more and took on her only because she is the daughter of a person they have political differences with and whom they have failed many times to get ahold of. To echo Rebelyn's mother, Evangeline, "If they are angry because they can’t get my husband, they should go up the mountains and look for my husband there.” Rebelyn's mother did not doubt, even for a bit, that it was the military who killed her daughter, referring to these elements as "“evil, vicious men of the military intelligence group.”

This savage attack perpetrated upon Rebelyn is definitely a complete and total disregard of the existing Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and Intenational Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) between the Government of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).

Part III of the agreement entitled "Respect for Human Rights", Article 2 states that the "agreement seeks to confront, remedy and prevent the most serious human rights violations in terms of civil and political rights, as well as to uphold, protect and promote the full scope of human rights and fundamental freedoms, including: (number 4) The right to life, especially against summary executions (salvagings), involuntary disappearances, massacres and indiscriminate bombardments of communities, and the right not to be subjected to campaigns of incitement to violence against one's person."

This agreement has been violated by the GRP many times as this agreement's scope includes "to guarantee the protection of human rights to all Filipinos under all circumstances, especially the workers, peasants and the poor people" and "to affirm and apply the principles of international humanitarian law in order to protect the civilian population and individual civilians, as well as persons who do not take direct part in armed hostilities." (Part II, "Bases, Scope and Applicability", Article 2) Clearly, the GRP has not been abiding by any of these.

From the time President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo took office in 2001, more than a thousand cases of political killings and hundreds more cases of enforced disappearances had been documented, done in the same systematic way as that in Rebelyn's case. Even Philip Alston, UN Special Rapporteur, concluded from his research and interviews of human rights victims in the Philippines that it is, indeed, the military and the police -- which is under the chain-of-command of the President -- perpetrating these series of state-sponsored terrorism. WIth what the government has done to Rebelyn, it only shows how inhuman the people in power can be.


In a society where guns, torture and violence are used by the state to silence its people who only speak the truth, can there still really be any chance for peace? How many more Karen Empenos, Sherlyn Cadapans, Chris Hugos, Ambo Gurans and Rebelyn Pitaos will there be? If this method by the Arroyo government continues -- with the sole purpose of protecting its personal economic and political interests -- will the revolutionary willpower of the NPA and the CPP be crushed? Or will it encourage more Filipinos to take up arms, stand up against these atrocities, protect themselves and their families and fight against these vicious state apparatuses in the hills, in the countryside and in the cities?###


JUSTICE FOR REBELYN PITAO!
JUSTICE FOR FAMILIES AND ALL VICTIMS
OF POLITICAL KILLINGS & ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES!
DOWN WITH THE US-ARROYO FASCIST REGIME!

KAMAYAN sa JOLLIBEE

Since its soft launch on Valentine's Day, an overflowing of Pinoys from across the East Coast have visited the fastfood chain, sacrificing many hours on waiting line just to satisfy their yearning for that unmistakable taste and the nostaligic Jollibee experience.

On Saturday, March 7, Anakbayan NY/NJ joined that pilgrimage to the infamous, most recognized Pinoy fastfood chain. But due to lack of seats in the packed restaurant, members of anakbayan and its supporters decided to enjoy the meal at the Bayanihan Filipino Community Center on 40-21 69th street woodside.

Chickenjoy, spaghetti, palabok, burgers, peach mango pie, discussion on VFA, the "Jai-ho!" moves, and sharing of most unforgettable scar, most stalkerish and most embarassing moments! &;p

Salamat sa Kappa Pi (Kapatirang Pilipino) brothers, FiRE (Filipinas for Rights & Empowerment) sisters, mga ate at nanay from KABALIKAT Domestic Workers' Support Network and kasamas from Philippine Forum (PF) & New York Committees for Human Rights in the Philippines (NYCHRP) for joining us.

Photos by Jonna Baldres

FILIPINO YOUTH JOIN PROTEST AGAINST EDUCATION BUDGET CUTS IN NY

Photos by Jonna Baldres

News Release
04 March 2009

Reference: Yancy Gandionco, Vice-President, Anakbayan New York/New Jersey, anakbayan_ny@yahoo.com


FILIPINO YOUTH JOIN PROTEST AGAINST EDUCATION BUDGET CUTS IN NY


NEW YORK -- On Thursday, March 5, members of Anakbayan New York/New Jersey join students from different campuses of City University of New York (CUNY) as they walk out from their classes to show protest against the state's education budget cuts.

Governor David Paterson claimed in his State of the State address the importance of investing in education. However, along with the Governor's plan on cutting budget for basic services (including healthcare resulting to shutdown of hospitals and job layoffs in the state of New York), education also seems to rank at an all-time low among his priorities.

In December of 2008, Paterson announced a reduction of $698 million in education budget for 2009-2010, 3.3 % from the previous fiscal year. In addition, he recommended a 14% increase in tuition fees in both State University of New York (SUNY) and City University of New York (CUNY), to be raised up to $620 and $600 respectively.

With the current economic turmoil, more students could no longer afford to go to private schools, thus, making them turn to the state's public institutions for higher education learning. This causes the rise in the rate of enrollment in SUNY and CUNY, with several campuses across the state becoming the stronghold of students whose parents have low-income, or of students who work part-time to pay for their education.

"But with the state's education budget cuts and the proposed increase in tuition fees on the way, these would only allow the state to put the burden on students who do not have anything more to shell out. The state is railroading the path to commercialization of state and city colleges and universities in New York -- the same institutions which are supposedly giving quality education to New Yorkers at affordable prices, or better yet, free of charge," says Yves Nibungco, Anakbayan New York/New Jersey deputy secretary general.


As the class division becomes more apparent, it is also interesting to note the racial composition of students who turn to SUNY and CUNY for advanced learning. According to the Fiscal Policy Institute Report, people of color have reached 20% of the total population in SUNY and 69% in CUNY as of 2008 -- no doubt including Filipinos, being the third largest immigrant community in the US.

The progressive Filipino youth group also points out that an average of 3,000 Filipinos leave the Philippines each day, mostly having the same reason for migrating: prices of commodities and services soar high, but salaries and wages remain horribly low back home. Currently, about four million Filipinos are in US hoping to acquire better lives for their families.


"Our parents brought us here to the US to study. But what we are seeing now is exactly the same thing that's been happening in the Philippines year after year. We cannot afford the tuition fee anymore that's why we had to stop," states John Miranda, a member of Anakbayan New York/New Jersey.

In 2007, due to budget cuts, the University of the Philippines, a state university and supposedly the 'national university' of the Philippines, increased the tuition fee of incoming freshmen by 300%. Being a model for learning institutions, this move by UP gave more reason for other schools, colleges and universities in the Philippines, both private and public, to charge students more for tuition and other miscellaneous fees, making education less accessible to the people.

Just recently, hundreds of students in the Philippines from various universities held a protest action in front of the office of the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) in Quezon City demanding the immediate implementation of the moratorium on tuition fee increases. (Link to video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5SxLMbH3eo )

"Without a doubt, we will do the same here in the big apple. We can't just watch and sit while states -- both under the Arroyo and the Paterson administrations -- deprive the youth of the basic right to learn. We shall not let this pass; that while the state extracts money from the taxpayers of New York City to bail out the 'capitalists', more funds are allocated by the federal government for 6,000 US troops to be sent to the Philippines in April, only to advance the interests of the fascist Arroyo regime and its patrons who benefit from the war machines -- economically and politically, " Nibungco adds.


CUNY rally starts at 3pm in the Borough of Manhattan Community College, to be followed by the Union rally at the City Hall at 4pm. ###