25/11/2025
๐๐๐๐ง๐ข๐ฅ๐๐๐ | ๐๐ผ ๐ฌ๐ผ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐๐๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ ๐ฆ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฎ ๐๐๐ฑ๐ด๐ฒ๐ ๐ง๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฃ๐น๐ฎ๐๐ ๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐ฑ?
๐๐ณ๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ
๐๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐๐ช๐ค๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ๐จ
When hundreds of students walk out of their classrooms to act against a system undermined by corruption, it exposes a simple truth: ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐น๐ฎ๐บ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ผ๐๐ป๐๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ถ๐น๐ถ๐๐ ๐ฒ๐
๐๐ฒ๐ป๐ฑ๐ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐๐ผ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฎ ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ผ๐น๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐น ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ๐บ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ, ๐ถ๐ ๐ถ๐ ๐ถ๐บ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ฟ๐ด๐ฒ๐ป๐.
The youth of today stand at the fault line of a nationโs broken priorities and first-world delusions.
While the government diverts billions to disguise progress at the cost of throwing public needs under the bus, the responsibility to resist inevitably falls on those whose futures are being compromised. While those in power rest on their thrones of polished privilege, the rightful sovereigns struggle to stay afloat amid the rising tides of inequality and neglect. The 2025 NSD Walkout stands as a response to the โฑ6.793 trillion 2026 National Budget, exposing the government's investment in state security over daily allocations that fund the countryโs future.
Beneath the sitcoms of political theatrics lie the compromises that trample the studentsโ rights to educationโlaid bare by Kabataan Party List Rep. Renee Co in her speech on the 2026 budget breakdown.
To understand this on a daily budget analogy, government spending goes like this: PHP 90.00 is allotted per basic education student and PHP 100.00 per tertiary education student, while each policeman receives an average of PHP 2,522.00 and a soldier, PHP 4,035.00. Instead of closing urgent gaps in classrooms, laboratories, and learning facilities, the funds continue to pour into Instagram worthy infrastructure projects that fail to resolve the basic needs of Filipino communitiesโmasking how essential sectors like education are left to survive on crumbs.
It is quite ironic how the Constitution boasts of prioritizing education when the numbers prove otherwise. More than the figures and percentages, the deficit in the education budget means waking up at dawn just to queue for limited public transportation, attending lectures in cramped rooms, relying on photocopied modules, staying up in cafes and co-working spaces because schools and colleges cannot afford quality and up-to-date learning materials, or, let alone, maintain a sufficient internet connection to accommodate state-imposed learning modalities.
Despite the administration's assurance that the debt-driven โฑ6.793 trillion budget is a "future-ready" investment, a closer analysis of the allocationsโsourced from the National Expenditure Program (NEP)โshows how the numbers are all talk, no bite. Unmistakably, the hierarchy of national priorities becomes evident.
In a country where money dictates the movement of those at the top, one must ask: what space is left for the voices of the youth, the students, and the ordinary citizens whose lives are being sold for profit and political gain?
What, then, remains for the Filipino people? When students take to the streets with placards raised high and chants that demand accountability, these are not mere acts of defiance. Rather, they are the voices of those who understand the state of the country being handed to themโand who are brave enough to know they deserve better. Confronting corruption, therefore, becomes not only a political stance but an act of breaking the silence.
When billions are siphoned from public funds and education is reduced to leftover scraps from the national budget, the question is no longer โWhy did the students walk out?โ Instead, it becomes: โWhy isnโt the entire nation walking with them?โ
