Facebook user Tiago Bigote shared an article from Okd2 to Facebook page “President Rody Duterte Facebook Army” claiming that the Kabataan party-list are questioning why only state universities and colleges (SUCs) get free tuition.
He captioned his post, “Binigyan na nagrereklamo pa… Alamin kung ano ang nirereklamo ng Kabataan Party List hinggil sa libreng tuition….”
We checked the Okd2 article out and found out that the Kabataan party-list was allegedly “not contented” with the government’s generosity as they questioned why the Commission on Higher Education excluded private schools from the free tuition budget next year.
The article even cited a certain Manuela Robles as a Kabataan spokesperson and a niece of “anti-Marcos” author Raisa Robles, as saying that both public and private schools should have access to the free tuition offer from the government.
Robles is said to be a student leader who has served as a Deputy Secretary General of the activist group League of Filipino Students. She allegedly condemned the government for its “bias” and “favoritism.”
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Robles was also quoted saying this over Bombo Radyo:
“Responsibility ng gobyerno natin na bigyan ng libreng edukasyon ang mga estudyante. Hindi dapat sa public lang. Dapat parehas lahat. Walang mangyayari kung bias ang gobyerno natin.”
The Okd2 article also quoted a certain CHED spokesperson Prof. Tomas Agoncillo’s reaction to Robles’ statement.
“These students with lost souls have no satisfaction. They will complain whatever the government is doing for the good of its people.”
To wrap the story up, Okd2 added that Robles is an Accountancy student from De La Salle Greenhills, which is not covered by the free tuition.
But Kabataan released its statement welcoming the announcement of the free tuition for SUCs in 2017 and it did not show any sign of discontentment over this news. In fact, the party-list praised just how this change might make the Philippines at par with the “great nations” Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Germany in the aspect of free tuition in state schools.
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The Kabataan party-list also called this move as a “game changer.”
“To imagine the scale of this game-changing move, just remember how candidates in the recently-concluded United States presidential elections, especially Sen. Bernie Sanders, called for free public higher education in the United States. With the Philippine Congress setting the ball rolling on free tuition, in this regard we are advancing far ahead of the U.S., wherein the dream of free college remains a hazy aspiration,” the party-list said.
However, they also noted how this “development did not spring from benevolence” but from the youth movement’s long-time fight for the right to education.
“We must note, however, that the move to introduce free tuition is no Christmas gift. This development did not spring from benevolence. In fact, this is a victory for the youth movement which has long fought for the right to education. This is a recognition of the long-standing clamor of the Philippine student movement for the government to veer away from letting state schools to charge and profit from public higher education,” they added.
[ads2]They also urged student regents and student trustees in SUC boards of regents and trustees to get ready with the implementation of this new policy and to conduct student consultations for the monitoring of the said implementation.
The Kabataan Partylist also promised to pursue a “comprehensive Free Education Law” in Congress, along with their fellow advocates.
We also tried to Google Manuela Robles and Tomas Agoncillo but could not find search engine results that would verify their relationship to the party-list and CHED, based on Okd2’s claims.
Given Okd2’s disclaimer about making up some fiction for the entertainment of its readers, this story is likely another fiction added to their growing list of fake news, several of which we have busted.
Here are the list of stories from Okd2 that we found out to be fake:
- Teddy Casiño was barred from entering the Philippine Lung Center for being anti-Marcos
- The late Senator Miriam Santiago’s last words to Duterte was about not trusting VP Robredo
- Senator Risa Hontiveros sought to increase protesters’ salaries
- Former President Erap Estrada gave Robredo 2/10 rating for her first 100 days
- CBCP refused to donate a drug rehabilitation center
- PNP to buy rifles from Russia and Israel
- Hontiveros planned to start a hunger strike over Marcos burial
- Hontiveros wanted to remove Marcos’ name from history books
- New York Times journalist got robbed by addicts in Pasay
- Smartmatic asked Comelec, LP to pay for extra service to make LP candidates win
- Bayan leader Renato Reyes almost caught playing illegal video karera
Sources: (facebook.com)
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