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Baguio students don black in protest on budget cut and fee hikes

BAGUIO CITY (Feb. 26) — Around 350 students here, mourning for yet another budget cut in education and incessant fee hikes wore black as a sign of protest last Feb. 24.

Students from Saint Louis University (SLU), Baguio Central University (BCU), University of the Cordilleras (UC), and University of the Philippines Baguio (UPB) later marched along Session Road, Magsaysay Avenue, and Bonifacio Road. A program followed at the Malcolm Square.

Solidarity messages flooded the program as student leaders from different school organizations expressed their unity in the issue.

Chester Tuazon, governor of Samahan ng mga Mag-aaral ng Nursing at Midwifery (SMNM) in BCU inspired fellow students to go to the streets and fight for their democratic rights, including the right to free expression. He conveyed that the mass action against the anomalous affiliation fee in BCU was triumphant and that other schools should not be afraid to do the same.

Jado Raphael Bognadon, speaker of Congress of Louisians-SLU joked in his speech that the missing 70% incremental proceeds from the tuition fee increase paid for only by first year students already traveled to Belgium. The congregation of the Belgian Fathers own SLU.

The school is noted to have been imposing the carry-over scheme where annual increase is enforced to freshman students while those in the those in the upper years pay only the same tuition they paid for the first time they entered the university.

The National Union of Students of the Philippines Baguio-Benguet (NUSP-BB), Student Christian Movement of the Philippines (SCMP), College Editors Guild of the Philippines Baguio-Benguet Chapter CEGP-BB), Progressive Igorots for Social Action (PIGSA), Democratic Action Party for the Youth (DAP-AY), Alliance of Concerned Students (ACS), GABRIELA-Youth, League of Filipino Students (LFS), and Anakbayan-Metro Baguio also participated in the said event. # Aveena Joy Alapag for NORDIS

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