NATIONAL Youth Commission (NYC) Chairman Ronald Cardema continues to draw flak for asking President Duterte to withdraw the scholarships of students who join protests against his policies.
Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) Chairman Leody de Guzman criticized Cardema, saying his recommendation is “outright callous, irresponsible, self-serving and unbecoming of the Commission he heads.”
The labor leader and senatorial aspirant also underscored to other critics of the NYC chief, including Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra and members of the Otso Diretso slate, that he did not only infringe on the youth’s right to free expression, but also their universal entitlement to education.
De Guzman said Cardema showed his ignorance of the mandate of the NYC and was arming the commission by going after students critical of the government.
De Guzman emphasized that its thrust was to encourage the active participation of the youth in both governmental and nongovernment programs.
Since Cardema’s wife Ducielle Marie Suarez-Cardema is the leading nominee of Duterte’s Youth party-list, he said this could be his real motive to go against progressive party-lists.
“If Cardema seeks the youth’s active role in nation building, the first order of business is to educate them in order to develop a keen political sense and arm them with the tools for critical thinking,” said the senatorial bet under Partido Lakas ng Masa.
“By promoting the opposite, he is only galvanizing their belief that this administration is tyrannical and vengeful of critics,” he added. The BMP chairman also lambasted the statement of Otso Diretso bet Pilo Hilbay, who said that scholarships must be based on merit.
“I beg to disagree with those holding an elitist perspective on who should receive state subsidies. Everyone should be a government scholar. The right to education is universal. Anybody who seeks an education should be automatically provided for and not be discriminated against,” de Guzman said.
Even if the government is at its most autocratic form, he stressed that the right to education should not be compromised in such a way that the constitution guarantees it should receive the highest allocation in the national budget.
Government subsidies for education, he noted, cannot be used as a carrot on a stick to induce their desired behavior and opinion of the youth on the administration.
“The scholars owe nothing to the President, Cardema or the senators who have claimed to have championed free education or any other social programs of the government. Those funds the government spends is borne out of the taxes automatically deducted from employees’ wages,” de Guzman said.
The labor activist called on the youth to stand with workers—the real benefactors of their education.