- Target:
- President of the Philippines, Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III, Kabataan Partylist (Philippines)
- Region:
- Philippines
- Website:
- www.facebook.com
This petition was created on behalf of Eric Suan, Founder and President of the "Association of Indigenous Students and Professionals of the Philippines"
Please, sign this petition in favor of the Indigenous people of the Philippines!
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Your support is highly appreciated! Thank you very much!
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We call on the government of the Philippines to guarantee equal rights and opportunities for Indigenous students of the Philippines.
1. Most of the Indigenous families are living in very incident circumstances, belonging to the poorest of the poor. Mostly they cannot effort the study costs for their children.
Therefore, the government of the Philippines runs a program called EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM. But according to the NATIONAL COMMISSION ON INDIGENOUS PEOPLE, thousands of the applications for this program are not admitted due to the limited budget for the EAP. If the government allocated an additional budget for the EAP, for thousands of inspired Indigenous College students this program would be a great opportunity of education.
2. The National Youth Commission is only implementing projects in the urban areas, especially in Manila but not in the remotest area where Indigenous people live. For equality purposes there shall be at least one genuine Indigenous youth in the National Youth Commission. This way, Indigenous youths would be given a voice in the decision making of the Youth Commission.
3. Due to modern approach of teaching in the school, and the continuing development of the country, a lot of Indigenous youths forget to embrace their own cultures and traditions, ineffective to speak their cultural dialect. An Indigenous cultural curriculum at schools in Indigenous areas would be a way of encouraging the Indigenous students to appreciate and preserve the beauty of the cultural identity of the Indigenous people.
4. When Indigenous apply for a job, they are very often rejected only because of being Indigenous. People think that they all are rebels because they live in the mountains and their neighborhoods are the enemies of the government (New People's Army.)
“They are only prejudging, but we are peace loving Indigenous people.” (Association of Indigenous Students and Professional of the Philippines)
For more background about the situation of Philippines' Indigenous people, please see these pictures from PLAN Asia and read the description of the album.
www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.262550277123954.62043.256181434427505&type=1
Your Excellency Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III
We, the Association of Indigenous Student and Professional of the Philippines, urge you as the President of the Republic of the Philippines to improve the situation of the Indigenous people of the Philippines in order to provide equal conditions in the field of education for all students, independent of their social background or ethnicity.
The following demands are urgently needed:
1. Please, allocate additional educational assistance fund to the program implemented by the NCIP the EAP, the current fund is not enough to support the educational needs of the indigenous students, thousands of Indigenous students did not avail this program due to the very limited budget.
2. For equality purposes, at least one genuine Indigenous youth shall be delegated to the National Youth Commission, responsible for Indigenous youth affairs of the commission and participating in decision making about youth projects.
3. The Department of Education shall be commissioned to provide Indigenous cultural curriculum/courses to the Indigenous communities, in order to ensure the preservation of cultures and traditions of the Indigenous people of the Philippines.
4. An office called as INDIGENOUS PEOPLE EMPLOYMENT OFFICE shall be created to ensure that the few minority graduates can find a job and are not discriminated by agencies and private sectors because of their race, color and physical lacking.
Your efforts are highly appreciated.
Thanking you in advance.
Yours faithfully,
Eric Suan
Founder and President of the "Association of Indigenous Students and Professionals of the Philippines"
You can further help this campaign by sponsoring it
The Equal Rights for the Indigenous Students of the Philippines petition to President of the Philippines, Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III, Kabataan Partylist (Philippines) was written by Cordula Giewald and is in the category Students' Rights at GoPetition.