[asia-apec 1390] Philippines: STUDENTS CONFRONT ESTRADA

[CEGP]

CEGP (College Editors Guild of the Philippines)

Budget cut protest 
STUDENTS CONFRONT ERAP 


ILOILO CITY-As riot police brutally truncheoned and hose down
protesting students near the Malacaqang gate last January 27, nearly
1500 students of the University of the Philippines in the Visayas 
Region (UPV) in Miag-ao and Iloilo City (total population: less
than 3,000) stormed President Estrada's visit to Iloilo City in protest
of the slashing of UP's budget. 

Estrada's was here for a two-day official visit to Iloilo and Antique
where he handed out grants and inaugurated infrastructure projects. But
many observers here saw the trip as an attempt to boost his popularity
rating in the Visayas where he scored the lowest according to recent
surveys. 

The students, including 200 UPV high school students, braved the rain
and marched to the Iloilo shipping port where the President was set to
inaugurate the newly constructed Iloilo passenger ferry terminal. 

The protesters swelled to nearly 3000 after the UPV students joined
with urban poor groups and workers under the BAYAN-Panay (New Patriotic
Alliance -- Panay Chapter). The urban poor groups were protesting the
widespread demolition in Iloilo City with 25 of the city's 180 barangays 
set to be demolished early this year. 

Th protests caught police and the Presidential Security Group (PSG) by
surprise forcing the presidential entourage to make an unscheduled stop
at a hotel minutes after Estrada arrived from Manila. The President
waited for at least 30 minutes until hundreds of police blocked the
protesters 500 meters from the inauguration site. 

Earlier, members of the city's task force on garbage collection removed
protest streamers at the UPV Iloilo City campus. One of the streamers
declared the campus "Marines-Free." 

Hundreds of students led by the broad alliance UPV-Students Forum from
the main campus in Miag-ao, 42 kms. south of here, joined with students
of the College of Management and high school students in the Iloilo
City campus where a short program was held before the march rally took
off. 

The protest was part of the ongoing campaign of major youth and student
groups here against the cut in the education budget. The groups include
the League of Filipino Students (LFS), Anakbayan, Samahan ng mga
Mag-aaral at Kabataang Kababaihan (Samaka-Association of Women Youth &
Students)), UPV Oikos, Student Christian Movement of the Philippines 
(SCMP), CEGP, and National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP). 

Rowena Narciso, CEGP-Iloilo