Kabataan Party-list Rep. Mong Palatino strongly condemns the violent dispersal of youth and student protesters who held a lightning rally in Mendiola earlier today.

Palatino said, “After insulting the public’s intelligence by spewing out ridiculous lies and alibis to justify Arroyo’s lavish dinners, authorities are now resorting to excessive force and violence to quell disgust over the administration’s gluttony amidst widespread crisis and poverty.”

“This is not right and downright unjust. Hindi natin puwedeng palagpasin ito. Hindi na nga makapagpaliwanag ng maayos ang pangulo sa publiko, ngayon naman halos patayin sa suntok, bugbog st sipa ang mga kabataang nagpoprotesta. Kung dati’y mga mamahaling dinner lang ang hindi natin masikmura, ngayon nadagdagan pa ang dahilan para lalo tayong masuklam sa administrasyong ito,” Palatino said.

The young solon said that he will file a resolution directing the House Committee on Human Rights to immediately conduct an investigation of the violent dispersal.

Palatino added that his office’s legal team is also studying filing legal charges against police authorities and members of the Presidential Security Group who clearly used excessive force and have violated their protocols of engagement, with news footages and photos as evidence.

Mr. Speaker, distinguished colleagues, I rise on behalf of fellow young Filipinos denied of their dreams and were forced to enter the illusory world of call centers.

The tale of Filipino youths setting aside their childhood dreams to enter the call center industry is fast becoming a common story. More and more young Filipinos are being lured into working in a call center regardless of their educational background. A starting salary of P15,000 on average is indeed attractive, not to mention the signing bonus and incentives for good work performance.

As the global financial crisis sweeps ominously into Asian shores, the Philippine government has continuously promoted and relied on the Business Processing Outsourcing (BPO) industry to provide opportunities to millions of jobless Filipinos. The number of jobs generated grew robustly from 99,000 workers in 2004 to 372,000 workers in 2008, most of them in their 20s.

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This is the team blog of Kabataan Cong. Mong Palatino’s office and here we show everyone how we kick tradpol ass in the Batasang Pambanzoo.

And yes, not all Congs are istambays and palmunins.