Privilege Speech of Rep. Raymond Palatino of Kabataan Partylist
Delivered on May 30, 2011

Mr. Speaker, dear colleagues, a pleasant afternoon.
I rise to discuss a pressing matter that affects our 55 million youths. It is our education system and the attendant problems plaguing it. The fast-approaching school opening is the first under the administration of President Benigno Aquino III and it is crucial that we put on the table these education issues as they will contour the policies we should create. As the only youth representative of this body, I believe …

As school opens this June, Kabataan Party-list Representative Raymond “Mong” Palatino is seeking a congressional probe into the discrimination faced by lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders in schools.
In filing House Resolution 1333, which seeks to investigate “prejudicial, discriminatory, and unjust practices and policies” against LGBTs “implemented and tolerated” in schools, the youth representative hopes to shed light on the plight of LGBTs in the academic setting.
According to Palatino, students who are LGBT, or are perceived to be LGBT, or who associate with LGBT people have been and are subjected to …

As thousands of students stage a nationwide education protest today, Kabataan Party-list Rep. Raymond ‘Mong’ Palatino filed in Congress House Bill no. 4286 or the Tuition Regulation Act of 2011 to control tuition and other fee increases and empower students and parents by ensuring a democratic consultation and decision-making process.
“The utterly deregulated character of tuition and other fees sadly finds basis in our existing laws and policies. That should be remedied with the creation of new law that will strictly regulate the tuition increases and allow students, parents and members …

We salute and congratulate the thousands of students, councils and organizations, educators, faculty unions and associations, employees and administrators in state schools nationwide who made history last week in a resounding expression of unity and commitment to oppose the planned budget cuts on education and social services.
We stood up, walked out and waged a strike, not only for ourselves and our schools. We fought for right of every Filipino to education. We suspended our classes so that more students may be able to study. We barricaded our campus gates for …

Kabataan Partylist Representative Raymond “Mong” Palatino today countered the statement made by Department of Budget and Management Secretary Butch Abad that the proposed budget for state universities and colleges (SUCs) for 2011 actually increased by 11.3 percent.
In a September 23 statement, Abad said the proposed SUCs budget for 2011 is P23.4 billion in total, higher by P2.4 billion as compared to its budget in 2010. Abad further said that non-recurring items, which include P1 billion for maintenance expenditures (MOOE) and P1.8 billion for capital outlay (CO), were not repeated in …

What’s wrong with brain drain? Nothing, says the new health secretary
Kabataan Partylist Representative Raymond Palatino today expressed dismay and alarm over statements made by Health Secretary Enrique Ona on the mass exodus of Filipino doctors and nurses, saying that the government seeing nothing wrong with the migration of health workers is a dangerous precedent on the country’s public health sector.
During the deliberation of the Department of Health budget at the House of Representatives yesterday, Palatino asked Ona what are the agency’s efforts to discourage doctors and nurses from leaving the …

In an effort to correct prevailing misconceptions and misrepresentations of indigenous peoples (IPs) in the country, Kabataan Partylist Representative Raymond Palatino filed a bill pushing for the mandatory study of the history, culture and identity of indigenous peoples and cultural communities in all public and private schools.
The youth solon filed House Bill 3963 or the “Indigenous Studies Act of 2010” mandating the teaching of IP studies in schools in light of the continuous discrimination and misrepresentations of IPs by mass media and educational institutions.
“Many television shows and movies, and unfortunately, …

ANG PROPOSED 2011 BUDGET NG ADMINISTRASYONG AQUINO
Para sa taong 2011, ang panukalang budget ng administrasyon ni Pangulong Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III ay umaabot sa halagang mahigit P1.6 trilyon. Ayon sa kanya, ang panukalang budget para sa 2011 ay nakatuon sa “reform” at sa kanyang pangakong “matuwid na daan.” Aniya, ang budget ng kanyang administrasyon ay may pagkiling para sa mga mahihirap.
Ngunit, kung susuriin nang mabuti, ipinagpapatuloy lamang ng 2011 Budget ang pangkabuuang polisiya ng nakaraang mga administrasyon, ang polisiya ng sistematikong pagbabawas-gastos sa mga serbisyong panlipunan sa ngalan ng pagtitipid …

Kabataan Partylist Representative Raymond Palatino today scored President Noynoy Aquino’s move to reduce subsidies for state college and universities (SCU) in his proposed 2011 budget, stating that his proposition was an “abandonment of government’s responsibility to provide the Filipino youth with quality and affordable education.”
Based on the proposed 2011 budget, the PNoy administration allocated P 23.4 billion to the country’s 112 SCUs, 1.7 percent lower than this year’s budget.
“Aquino and his budget team should refrain from issuing statements that education is a major priority in the current administration when in …

The move to add two years in basic education will not answer the country’s declining quality of education, the growing number of out-of-school youth, nor will it lift the country’s employment rate.
Below are five reasons to counteract Department of Education’s (DepEd) K12 program.