Tonight at 10 PM, transport group MANIBELA’s Facebook page was shut down. Such an issue deemed as not only suspicious but also creates a chilling effect particularly with the creeping censorship proliferating under the Marcos Jr. administration.
This is happening just as the group alongside PISTON are about to launch their two-day nationwide transport strike against the looming jeepney phaseout under the Public Transport Modernization Program starting tomorrow, September 23. And what do we see from schools, particularly in the National Capital Region? The same quick fix—class suspensions.
Schools are once again choosing the easy way out, offering band-aid solutions rather than standing in solidarity with small jeepney drivers and operators. This approach has become so ingrained in our educational institutions that it almost feels routine. Declaring class suspensions as a “solution” not only isolates students from the realities around them but also sends a message that the struggle of livelihoods and basic rights are key issues not worth addressing.
We cannot forget that the youth has ultimately campaigned for the resumption of face-to-face classes during the pandemic. In 2020, Balik Paaralan Ipaglaban Network called for the safe reopening of schools along with the campaign for adequate mass testing. BPN emphasized the youth should see physical classes that it is not just about learning in a classroom but about social engagement to shape critical thinkers and engaged citizens. However, as we see it nowadays, as transport groups take to the streets—schools opting for suspension, shying away from the chance to integrate these crucial issues into the students’ consciousness.
The phaseout of jeepneys under the modernization program is a direct attack on the livelihoods of thousands of small operators and drivers who have no means to purchase the expensive “modernized” units. PTMP is seen only to serve the interests of a few while sidelining the lives of jeepneys drivers and operators who are the very backbone of our public transportation system and have long been integral to our daily lives.
Since the launch of big transport strike protests last year, schools have been quick to suspend classes. It is as if the goal is to keep students from facing the truth: that this phaseout is a displacement of thousands of small jeepney drivers and operators, the erasure of a part of our cultural identity, and a blow to the marginalized sectors. By isolating students from these struggles, schools become complicit in keeping them detached from these pressing issues.
Students, especially those who rely on public transportation, should not view this transport strike as just another inconvenience. The youth should recognize what is at stake if the jeepney phaseout pushes through. This is not the modernization we hoped for our public transport, but rather pushes for marginalization. By avoiding these conversations, schools are doing their students a disservice, preventing them from understanding the real-world implications of government policies that prioritize corporate profit over the welfare of the people.
It is important to challenge this normalization of class suspensions as a response to social protest. Schools should be spaces where the intersections of education and societal issues are not only acknowledged but actively engaged with.
In the same way MANIBELA’s page was silenced, so too are schools silencing student voices by shielding them from the very realities they need to understand and confront. As censorship tightens and disinformation spreads, it is crucial for educational institutions to take a stand, encouraging students to be critical, to be involved, and to challenge a system that prioritizes capital over people.
If schools continue to shy away from this responsibility, they fail not just their students but the broader struggle for justice and equity in our society. The question we should be asking is: what kind of citizens are we producing if we allow them to remain ignorant of these struggles?
