We are against the text tax as it would burden the country’s 56 million cellphone users, majority of which are students and young workers heavily dependent on texting and other mobile services.

Kabataan Party-list Representative Raymond “Mong” Palatino today filed House Bill 6799, which seeks to penalize colleges and universities imposing a ‘no permit, no exam’ policy and other regulations prohibiting students from taking their periodic or final examinations due to unpaid tuition and other fees.
“The [no-permit, no exam policy] effectively bars unpaid students from graduating or obtaining an academic degree, regardless of how hard they have worked for it or how much they academically deserve it. Students with delinquent fees have the right to take an examination. ” Palatino said in …

Kabataan Party-list Representative Raymond “Mong” Palatino today filed House Bill 6798, which seeks to ban the use of Styrofoam food service containers and other synthetic materials harmful to the environment in all schools.
Palatino said Styrofoam is non-biodegrable and resists compacting, taking up extra landfill space for long periods of time. “The damage exacted by the continued use of polystyrene (Styrofoam) is manifest in the perrenial problem of waste management in the Philippines,” he said in the bill’s explanatory note. The use of Styrofoam, he said, also poses possible health risks …

AN ACT DECLARING AS UNLAWFUL THE USE OF EXPANDED POLYSTYRENE FOOD SERVICE CONTAINERS AND OTHER SYNTHETIC MATERIALS HARMFUL TO THE ENVIRONMENT IN ALL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

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AN ACT PENALIZING THE IMPOSITION OF A ‘NO PERMIT, NO EXAM’ POLICY OR ANY SUCH POLICY THAT PROHIBITS STUDENTS FROM TAKING THEIR PERIODIC OR FINAL EXAMINATIONS DUE TO UNPAID TUITION AND OTHER SCHOOL FEES.
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Kabataan Party-list Representative Raymond “Mong” Palatino today disapproves of the approval by the House of Representatives in the committee level of a measure imposing a five-centavo excise tax on every text message, saying that the “no pass-on provision” is no assurance that consumers will not shoulder the additional burden.
“Despite statements from the authors of the bill and House Speaker Propspero Nograles that the “text tax’” should not add to the burdens of the tax paying public, these do not guarantee that consumers will not shoulder this additional burden,” said Palatino, …

Kabataan Party-list Representative Raymond “Mong” Palatino today said that the government’s low education spending is to blame for the “poor” performance of both elementary and high school students in the 2009 National Achievement Test.
Palatino said that the slight improvement of the overall Mean Percentage Score from 64.81 percent in 2008 to 66.33 percent this year is “not a cause for celebration” as the scores are still way below the 75 percent passing rate.
“As a result of low spending on education, the quality of education becomes poor, and this has grave …

How much we invest on the education of the youth today will determine the kind of nation we will become in the future.

To: Commision on Elections (Comelec)
From: Kabataan Partylist
Re: Petition Moving for Comelec to Extend Registration for First Time Voters from October 2009 to Original Deadline of December 2009.
To the Honorable Commissioners:
In every election, various political candidates of all shades have tried to court the youth vote. US Pres. Barack Obama’s victory, for instance, was clinched largely by the massive endorsement of American voters under the age of 25. In the Philippines, past elections and statistics have proven that just half of the so-called youth vote can seal a seat for an …

Youth to register 1M new voices for change
Extend voters’ registration, Comelec told
Around 1,000 first-time voters from different parts of the country registered for next year’s polls, vowed to serve as poll watchers, and act for change beyond the 2010 elections.
Two months before the Commission on Elections’ deadline of voters’ registration, new voters from Metro Manila, Baguio, Laguna, Quezon, Bicol, Davao and Cebu registered as part of Kabataan Party-list’s Isang Milyon, Isang Panata (1M, 1P) campaign, which aims to engage the youth to help out in encouraging one million new registrants …