MANILA, Philippines 鈥� Otso Diretso senatorial candidates on Wednesday came to the defense of progressive students and assailed National Youth Commission (NYC) chairperson Ronald Cardema for asking President Rodrigo Duterte to revoke the scholarships of 鈥渁nti-government鈥� students.
搁贰础顿:听NYC chair: Remove scholarships of 鈥榓nti-government鈥櫬爏tudents
Former Solicitor General Florin Hilbay argued that such a suggestion was 鈥渃ontrary to the mandate鈥� of the youth commission.
鈥溾�榊ung scholarship should be based on merit, not politics,鈥� Hilbay asserted during a press conference in Quezon City on Wednesday.
Marawi City civic leader Samira Gutoc, meanwhile lamented Cardema鈥檚 remarks, saying this would curtail the students鈥� rights to freedom of expression and speech.
鈥淚 for one, am so, so sad that a National Youth chairman would even鈥� sa bunganga nya lalabas 鈥榶un,鈥� Gutoc added.
Gutoc also cited a landmark ruling of the Supreme Court stating that students 鈥渄o not shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.鈥�
Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano, 聽for his part said students should exercise critical thinking, especially on national issues.
鈥淜ailangan natin sa ating mga kabataan ang magkaroon ng critical thinking, critical minds. Hindi pwedeng masanay sila na busalan ang kanilang bibig sa mga nangyayari sa ating bansa,鈥� Alejano argued.
鈥淲ala naman silang nilalabag na batas. In fact,聽 Constitution guarantees freedom of expression,鈥� he added.
In a statement on Tuesday, Cardema asked Duterte to issue an Executive Order withdrawing the government scholarships of 鈥渁ll anti-government scholars,鈥� specifically those students who are 鈥渁llied with the leftist CPP-NPA-NDF, a terrorist group that is trying to overthrow the Philippine Government and killing our government troops.鈥�
Cardema, who headed the 鈥淒uterte Youth鈥� group before he was appointed by the Chief Executive as chair of the NYC in August 2018,聽 also asked officials of Sangguniang Kabataan (SK), Reserve Officers鈥� Training Corps (ROTC), Citizen鈥檚 Army Training (CAT), among others, to report scholars who are supposedly linked to the communist movement.
Republic Act 10931, or the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act, covers the tuition and fees of students enrolled in 112 state universities and colleges (SUCs), 78 local universities and colleges (LUCs), and all technical-vocation education and training (TVET) programs registered under the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).聽/ gsg