FREESYLE 09
Volume 27 Number16 Thursday | 06 March 2014
LRT ADVENTURES
GAYLE CALIANGA REYNA
DEMOLITION JOB / from page 12
issue. The student center was said to accommodate fast food chain outlets. However, on January 24, 2014, the concessionaires were informed of their dislodgement in order to give way to the new student center. The administration, upon their hasty consultation, presented no plans of transfer for the stall owners. The administration’s desire to generate more income through the construction of the student center and accommodation of fast food chains endangers the livelihood of the GAB Caf concessionaires. The stall owners can only return to the new student center building if they win a public bidding. This lessens their chances of regaining their livelihood because a public bidding will allow bigger and more financially capable concessionaires and fast food chains to join. Thus, after providing services for the university, the concessionaires will be displaced without any form of assistance from the administration. Such absence of support shows their abandonment to those who have provided services for the university.
INSULT TO INJURY / from page 07
in a country where healthcare is not even the priority of the state. For the year 2013, the budget spends a measly PhP 3.00 for every citizen, and that figure translates to a 3-3.5% budget allocation for health in the country’s Gross Domestic Product. This only shows how the current government remains impassive to the provision of the basic rights of its constituents. With regard to the advantages offered by healthcare service liberalization through the AEC, it only worsens the current labor-export orientation of the Philippines. According to a Philippine Overseas Employment Administration report in 2012, an average of 3,000 Filipinos leave for abroad every day. This figure is a manifestation of an inutile government which does not generate jobs for its citizens. Rather than exporting the nation’s skilled health workers, the state should utilize this resource in order to provide the needed health services of the poor Filipino majority. To illustrate, there are only 72,000 registered doctors in the Philippines, which translates to seven doctors for every 10,000 Filipinos, according to the Department of Health. With the implementation of the AEC, complemented with the AFAS, there lies the possibility of an exodus of Filipino doctors and professionals in search of higher paying jobs in other ASEAN member-states which will worsen the accessibility of health services in the country. This, in turn, will further
BOND
the prevailing “brain drain” of medical practitioners in the country. With the measly budget given to the Department of Health and the low wages given for healthcare practitioners in the country, the said probability is not a baseless assault to those who are altruistic. On the other hand, with the provision of permitting other healthcare suppliers to open their facilities in the country, and the promotion of medical tourism by enticing consumers to visit the Philippines for healthcare, the AEC, through the AFAS and other mutual agreements, proves to affirm the rationality of the Philippine government to abandon its mandate of providing accessible and affordable healthcare for its citizens. This will also further the privatization of healthcare that this government has adopted which will make access to healthcare impossible for the marginalized. With the implementation of the AEC in the near future, the Philippines is bracing itself for the sweeping reforms that will affect its citizens. The AEC, which champions regional integration for the development of every ASEAN memberstate, fails to address the objective social realities of the countries that will adopt the said program. The root of all evils that will be born out of the AEC is that it adopts the neoliberal economic framework which has been proven, time and again, to be exploitative as it only favors the elites while oppresses the masses. CZARINA CATAPANG TUAZON
The lesson that should be learned by providing this bleak future of the healthcare system under the AEC framework is that before aspiring for internationalization, the country should first address the perennial problems that plague the health sector. Failure to do so would only render the AEC irrelevant and insensitive to the plight of the masses.
Alam kong matagal mo nang kinikimkim ‘yan at ang sakit sakit na. ispluk mo na sa’kin ‘yan, beh. XOXO.
Lola Patola
Apart from the neglect, the concessionaires were also subjected to different forms of harassment. According to the stall owners, each of them was treated unprofessionally during the consultations and meetings with the administration. They mentioned that some of them were forced to sign documents that further finalized their eviction. Through this, the administration has already overstepped its authority. Democratic consultation means that no one is coerced, and everyone is able to present their side. But the administration has chosen to remain deaf amidst the cries of the stall owners. The administration itself has spearheaded the violation of rights not only of concessionaires, but also of students, to proper consultation. The motives of the UP Manila administration are clearly reflected in their actions against the concessionaires. To acquire more income, it is only logical that they have to open a public bidding not only for the new student center but for all stalls to be located within university grounds. To satisfy the said incomegenerating scheme, the administration had to rob the many of their sources of living. The UP Manila administration has betrayed the interests of its constituents to favor the interests of the few. The unjust eviction of GAB Caf concessionaires mirrors the betrayal of the administration both to its students and its employees. The university is gradually unveiling its plans for commercialization – from the construction of town centers, to renaming a building after a prominent businessman, to outright preference for commercial fast food chains and concessionaires. The income-generating scheme poses more harm than good – threatening the students’ security and financial capacity, and displacing employees from their only livelihood. In order to serve the interests of the few, the administration had to abandon the interests of its constituents and the mandate of the university. *Vice Chancellor Lapena responded to all our questions via e-mail