WE MADE HISTORY.
In a year, we passed in Congress the reproductive health and sin tax bills into laws. Through mass mobilizations and various direct negotiations, we convinced the government to increase the budget for the University and other state universities and colleges. After decades of systemic corruption and misgovernment, we detained former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and impeached her former Chief Justice Renato Corona.
In a year, we have mainstreamed the discourse of gender equality in campus. We stood firm in our condemnation of fraternity-related violence and, for the first time, filed a case as students against warring fraternities. We have institutionalized fiscal transparency and mechanisms of accountability in the USC. We have freed the USC from its former captivity in outdated dogma and transformed it into a body truly reflective of our passions and aspirations.
Today we are at a critical juncture, faced with an obvious choice: Do we continue our momentum of progressive change or do we fall back into irrelevance and empty rhetoric?
ITULOY NATIN ANG NAPAGTAGUMPAYAN. Our victories have only begun. As we weave our individual stories of hopes and dreams, we realize that, as a collective, we are headed towards one destination. As we build on our successes, we affirm our shared journey towards genuine student empowerment, social justice, and social progress.
PARA SA UP. In the advancement of our rights and welfare as Iskolars para sa Bayan, we abandon intangible promises and choose concrete solutions. We refuse sloganeering by merely opposing. We choose to propose. We have chosen to forward amendments based on students’ rights which have been successfully incorporated into the Code of Student Conduct. We choose a more just and equitable system of socialized tuition. We choose to formalize our freedoms and liberties with a national law on students’ rights and welfare.
PARA SA BAYAN. As we fight for the marginalized, oppressed, and powerless sectors in our society, we go beyond oversimplified classifications. We engage government from the outside and within. We refuse to battle wrongs with another wrong. We choose to be proactive. We have chosen to challenge impunity and patronage politics with a freedom of information law. We choose to end indecent labor conditions with a security of tenure law. We choose to address gender inequality with an anti-discrimination law.
Victory after victory, our choice becomes clearer: We choose to continue making history.
ITULOY NATIN ANG NAPAGTAGUMPAYAN. PARA SA UP, PARA SA BAYAN!
VOTE STRAIGHT ALYANSA SA USC ON FEBRUARY 28!
