Never before has the entire Filipino nation been driven into the farthest depths of crisis in history any more than the Arroyo administration did in nine years of clinging to power. The record-breaking performance of the Arroyo regime in being the staunchest disciple of imperialist powers has far surpassed any of its predecessors. Covering up for her bankrupt economic alleviation programs, the president constantly boasts of increases in the country’s total GDP.
However, a closer look of the picture would reveal as to whose development have Arroyo’s program served. The same old social conditions exist where the few ruling elite amass more than half of the nation’s wealth while the people who sweat to bring the economy on its feet are left with breadcrumbs to share among themselves.
But in the face of all political and economic impediments, the bold and daring spirit of the youth can never be suppressed. Never in this country’s history has the youth remained silent on crucial issues that affront them. The students sector has relentlessly been pursuing the fight against the commercialization and commoditization of education, gaining momentum as the worsening social conditions gradually expose the bankruptcy of the exploitative system being imposed by the ruling elite and their foreign masters.
The students must, however, transcend to a higher level of politicization. While we advance in upholding and protecting our democratic rights and welfare within the confines of the university, we find many of our fellow youth forced to drop out of school and engage in jobs subjected under subhuman working conditions. Others have been lured to antisocial activities—illegal drugs and petty crimes—and worse, young women are driven into prostitution.
It is distressing that parents are barely able to extend comfort and support as household income continues to drop. They are helpless, burdened by having to find and keep even the most exploitative and oddest jobs. And while we have been used not to expect too much from our bureaucracy, none is more appalling than the current state of the Filipino youth under Arroyo’s stay in power.
Under the present regime, 36% of the estimated 44 million youth has been deprived of the basic right to education. It is utterly preposterous for the president to lend economic and political advice to international leaders when she could not even attend to her own problems at home.
In the midst of such dismal situation that grips the entire Philippine society, the youth cannot afford to stand on the sidelines and remain unmoved. History teaches us that the youth is a potent force in determining the course of this nation. It also taught us not to bank on the illusion of the primacy of student power. We must, therefore, realize that our predicament is just but a part of the systemic problem of a neocolonial society—that of being dominated by the parasitic imperialists.
It is thus imperative for the Filipino youth to take the road beyond the borders of their confinement and set forth into the slums and ghettos, the factories and workshops, the plantations and countryside; for in these places can we find the basic sectors of our society—they who carry the burden of sustaining this nation and upon whose arms lay the wheel of history. Only from them can the Filipino youth learn the intricacies of building a just and humane society. Only with them can the Filipino youth gain strength to claim the future.
However, a closer look of the picture would reveal as to whose development have Arroyo’s program served. The same old social conditions exist where the few ruling elite amass more than half of the nation’s wealth while the people who sweat to bring the economy on its feet are left with breadcrumbs to share among themselves.
But in the face of all political and economic impediments, the bold and daring spirit of the youth can never be suppressed. Never in this country’s history has the youth remained silent on crucial issues that affront them. The students sector has relentlessly been pursuing the fight against the commercialization and commoditization of education, gaining momentum as the worsening social conditions gradually expose the bankruptcy of the exploitative system being imposed by the ruling elite and their foreign masters.
The students must, however, transcend to a higher level of politicization. While we advance in upholding and protecting our democratic rights and welfare within the confines of the university, we find many of our fellow youth forced to drop out of school and engage in jobs subjected under subhuman working conditions. Others have been lured to antisocial activities—illegal drugs and petty crimes—and worse, young women are driven into prostitution.
It is distressing that parents are barely able to extend comfort and support as household income continues to drop. They are helpless, burdened by having to find and keep even the most exploitative and oddest jobs. And while we have been used not to expect too much from our bureaucracy, none is more appalling than the current state of the Filipino youth under Arroyo’s stay in power.
Under the present regime, 36% of the estimated 44 million youth has been deprived of the basic right to education. It is utterly preposterous for the president to lend economic and political advice to international leaders when she could not even attend to her own problems at home.
In the midst of such dismal situation that grips the entire Philippine society, the youth cannot afford to stand on the sidelines and remain unmoved. History teaches us that the youth is a potent force in determining the course of this nation. It also taught us not to bank on the illusion of the primacy of student power. We must, therefore, realize that our predicament is just but a part of the systemic problem of a neocolonial society—that of being dominated by the parasitic imperialists.
It is thus imperative for the Filipino youth to take the road beyond the borders of their confinement and set forth into the slums and ghettos, the factories and workshops, the plantations and countryside; for in these places can we find the basic sectors of our society—they who carry the burden of sustaining this nation and upon whose arms lay the wheel of history. Only from them can the Filipino youth learn the intricacies of building a just and humane society. Only with them can the Filipino youth gain strength to claim the future.
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