EXTENDED ToFI
Idiotic, no scientific
basis.
It starts at the
very top. A certain Emmanuel De Dios (he claims to be a Professor at a certain
college, but I think even my high school would not hire people who do not use
the scientific method in research) claims that the incoming batch of UP
students can shoulder the ToFI because they are coming from comfortable
backgrounds. His basis? Data from 2004. The Dean of the College of Mass Communications, who is pro-ToFI, unwittingly killed his own argument
(thank God for the senility of old age) by mentioning that the nominal value of
UP students’ allowances increased over the years. Note the word: nominal.
Aside from the yearly inflation of prices, there was also the E-VAT and the
spate of oil price hikes. In the same period of time, minimum wages were
actually raised by 75 pesos. WOW. It reflects even in their handful of
supporters in the student body. These students can only raise and defend their
positions in the internet (i.e blogs and forums) where they have the luxury of
consulting dictionaries (to fix their grammar, because their manufactured
accent wont work here) and tons of literature to reply to even a simple
argument made by a high school student. But in public, they have at least
enough sense to realize that they are as intellectually unarmed as Sergio Cao
during the University Convocation. To even attempt to answer the lay-man’s
argument against ToFI would result in their stuttering, changing topics,
focusing on the grammar of their opponents, and even plain and simple
embarassed silence.
Sneaky,
underhanded, unethical
As mentioned above,
students who support ToFI have shown a total lack of capability in defending
their positions. Thus, they resort to sneaky means that would have made
Virgilio Garcilliano proud. But we must not be surprised. Like father, like
bastard. They could only have learned this from the likes of Emerlinda Roman
and Sergio Cao. As we have already mentioned, Roman and Cao may be stupid, but
they are not stupid enough to realize that their arguments would not stand
public scruntity. Thus, they changed the venue of the BOR Meeting upon
realization that the barricade was a reality, locked out (they even turned off
their cellphones) the Student and Faculty Regents (its like a Student Council
election with the students not being allowed to vote), and voted for the ToFI
while there was no quorum (there were only 6 regents present, 7 are required).
And all in a span of 20 minutes! Imagine that!
And finally, fascist and
elitist.
Are you even surprised? Its
unfortunate that our President comes from the College of Business Administration. The senile old fool must have mistaken our beloved University
for a simple business enterprise. Does she (or for that matter, any Econ
student) actually understand the term social services? Its supposed to
offset the effect of low wages by providing the poor with affordable health
services, housing and EDUCATION. But now I actually believe that our
educational system is in shambles. Imagine, people who do not even understand
that are officials of our University. And such a discriminatory proposal is to
be expected when you commission a liar like De Dios to make the study.
Remember, it was De Dios and his ilk the applauded the E-VAT. They even
promised us more funds for education once E-VAT was passed. Now, more than a
year later, not a single centavo has gone to UP. And finally, the illusion that
the UP Admin gives a shit about the students has fallen off. The emcee of the
University Convocation admitted that the strong opposition registered against
the ToFI would not really mean anything. And during an attempted dialogue with
Sergio Cao over the Collegian funds, he simply ran over a student that was in
the way of his car. And of course, the students who support TFI are all
a-quiver with delight over that incident. If the student was killed, it would
mean one less student whose arguments they cannot answer.
To anyone reading this, as
long as we make excuses on why we are not actively participating in the fight
against ToFI, we are giving the UP Admin an excuse to ram it down our throats.
The outpouring of outrage last Friday was a little too late. By that time, the
ToFI had already been railroaded.
But if
there is a lesson to be learned, it is that our strength is in numbers. We
succeded in exposing the unethical nature of the UP Admin by blockading Quezon Hall and challenging them to conduct their
meeting in public. If everyone who joined the protests last Friday could
mobilize at least 2 more of his/her friends, we can actually succeed in
pressuring the UP Admin into repealing the ToFI.
-AB-UPD
