Arroyo told: Don’t use students to justify VAT
MANILA, Philippines – Two days before the formal opening of classes, members of Youth Against Debt (YAD) lambasted Mrs. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s additional P1-billion fund for students saying it is a cheap trick to use students and their accessibility problem to education as basis for the justification of the widely hated value-added tax (VAT).
In a statement, the youth group described Mrs. Arroyo’s VAT-powered Students Assistance Fund for Education for a Strong Republic, or “Safe for SR” as pure gimmickry, shallow and not enough to be of any ambulatory measure to help the students compensate for the rising cost of education. (more…)
2 comments June 8, 2008
Groups say ‘Katas ng VAT’ nowhere near Arroyo P1.3T education debt
From abs-cbnNEWS.com
President Arroyo’s recent unveiling of the P1-billion “Katas ng VAT Pantawid Aral” could have made her look like a generous leader, but education advocacy groups said Friday that the amount is nowhere near her administration’s incurred debt to the education sector.
Based on the Delors Benchmark, the internationally-agreed benchmark for education budget since its presentation to the UNESCO in 1996, the Arroyo administration was short of P272.4 billion in education spending for 2007, said the education advocates. (more…)
Add comment June 8, 2008
Group wants debt moratorium, 6% GNP education spending
From GMANews.TV news: Group wants debt moratorium, 6% GNP education spending
MANILA, Philippines – With one week to go before classes start, militant anti-debt youths demanded that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo follow the United Nations’ benchmark to spend six percent of gross national product on education.
The Youth Against Debt (YAD) also reiterated the call for a moratorium on paying “illegitimate” debts, instead of having President Arroyo calling for a freeze in tuition hikes.
(more…)
2 comments June 8, 2008
Put Money Where Your Mouth Is – YAD
by Youth Against the Debt
One week from now, classes will formally open subjecting new and old students to the same old list of problems besetting the ever-dismal state of Philippine education. Yet, we from the Youth Against Debt (YAD) said that amid the political rhetoric, the often-ritualistic protest actions, and empty populism of our national leaders, little if none is said about the grave yet unnoticed wrongdoing – the blatant non-compliance to international standards on social spending by our succeeding governments from the time of Fidel V. Ramos up to Mrs. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
3 comments May 31, 2008
