• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
If the National Democratic Front-Negros is to be believed, Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte is unwelcome to the people of Negros Island.
In a statement, NDF-Negros spokesperson Ka Bayani Obrero, claimed that the so-called reforms championed by VP Sara Duterte, such as the mandatory ROTC program, enable the culture of impunity and senseless violence.
Obrero also described DepEd Order No. 21 directing bare classrooms, as making schools more akin to a military facility than a place of learning.
These militarized schools indoctrinates students with a false brand of patriotism; immersing them into the same brutality that has claimed lives of dozens of innocent farmers, farm workers and defenseless individuals in Negros island, he added.
Duterte and presidential sister Senator Imee Marcos are attending today’s Teacher’s Day celebration dubbed “Gurovaganza 2023,” at the Panaad Stadium in Bacolod City. Five thousand teachers from all over the province of Negros Occidental are expected to attend.
An air-tight security has been implemented both by the Philippine National Police and Philippines Army, on top of the personnel of the Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group.
While Duterte and her cohorts defend their brazen unlawful spending, Obrero further claimed public schools direly lack classrooms, while teachers are underpaid.
He further said that state universities and colleges are suffering budget cuts, as two among the top 30 are in Negros Occidental, including the West Visayas State University and Northern Negros State College of Science and Technology.*
