Nothing is free
The best things in life are free. But why do I feel that free data is bringing out bad things: fake news, smart-shaming, trolling, and fanaticism to a kill-happy, gutter mouth leader?
I still want to believe, though, that the best things are free. Like last week, President Duterte signed into law the bill that grants free tuition for state universities and colleges (SUCs). Are we happy about this?
Duterte answered that question: Ewan ko. Because in typical Duterte-speak, anything he says presents two realities.
The positive one: the President recognizes the Constitutional mandate of guaranteeing free education for the youth, in all levels. Also, it responds to the painful stories such as that of Kristel Tejada, who ended her life upon seeing a failed future in a commercialized UP system.
The negative one: free tuition is not going to happen now. Duterte said government doesn’t have the money. That’s what his economic team said, the technocrats who graduated from elite schools. Wait until next year’s budget is out.
It’s been typical in Duterte’s administration: he orders one thing, the oligarchs do otherwise. The President says end Endo yet companies continue to defy that order. He orders land reform implemented yet farmers have to brave guards in entering Marbai and Luisita. Nothing is for free.
Duterte’s economic team gave all kinds of reasons why free tuition can’t happen, the worse of which comes from Budget Secretary Ben Diokno: education only benefits the individual, not the society. I don’t know how that benefits only the individual when we hear of doctors and scientists opting to go out of the country because the system fails to nurture the mind.
And we have to be angry at this economic team who are behind the build-build-build mantra of an infrastructure boom under Duterte to the tune of one trillion pesos. The far more important infrastructure is the one in the head.
Aside from infrastructure, there is a huge amount poured in this ongoing Marawi siege. I remember anthropologist and social critic Brother Karl Gaspar asking: How much does government spend for one bomb dropped in Marawi? That money could have been used to fund classrooms and books.
Activists have this old chant on the streets: “May pera sa gera, wala sa eskwela.” And now add a new one: “May pera sa infra, wala sa eskwela.” Finding sources to fund SUCs is easy. Tax the big companies, the oligarchs who own 80 percent of our finances.
I hear student activists say the battle’s half done, and it’s true. How to implement a law that benefits the youth, where to find the funds, and how to stop neoliberals from taking over. Yes, nothing is free, without a struggle.--
Duterte’s economic team gave all kinds of reasons why free tuition can’t happen