ILOILO City – Various student organizations and councils of the University of the Philippines Visayas (UPV) held protests at the state school’s campuses in this city and Miag-ao, Iloilo against “maneuvers” on the free tuition law.
Student leaders decried the “return service system” in the implementation of Republic Act 10931 or the Universal Access to Tertiary Education Law among state colleges and universities.
The called it a “maneuver” to deny students of the full implementation of free, accessible and quality education for all.
Student leaders said the return service system forces students to render return service as part of the state-run colleges’ admission and retention policies.
This is “unwarranted labor” imposed on the youth in the guise of civic obligation to the people instead of just implementing the law as an enshrined right without discrimination and any conditionality, they stressed.
The protests on Aug. 16 also commemorated the first year death anniversary of Kian de los Santos, one of the 20,000 victims of the government’s war on drugs.
The protests were led by the UPV University Student Council, SAMASA-UPV, and Pangkat Lingkod Bayan-UPV./PN
