Make no mistake. Sara is just as much a fascist as her father.
And her ways prove to be some of the roots of a foreboding militarist, anti-democratic form of education she and Marcos, Jr. will establish.Â
Teaming up with the dictator’s son may never suffice. They plan to further malign history and distort the truth.Â
Now, the Marcos-Duterte tandem is plotting to plague the already-rotten education system of the country as Marcos, Jr. appoints Sara as the next education secretary.
Get this, education is supposed to gear the youth towards national consciousness and critical thinking yet, make no mistake. A woman bred by a fascist father is a woman who is a fascist herself. And what Sara would make of the Philippine education system is one that would never favor the masses’ greatest interest.
If anything, Sara would only orchestrate and reform the Philippine education system into one that would only rid the youth of learning that will emancipate.
Shutting down Lumad schools
Sara will deprive the indigenous peoples of their right to education. She already did last 2019.
During her term as Davao mayor, Sara ordered the shutdown of Lumad schools under the Salugpongan Ta’ Tanu Igkanugon Community Learning Inc. Sara cited in her resolution that the schools allegedly lacked academic records and learning reference numbers.
This was immediately condemned by the Save our Schools (SOS) Network, highlighting how Sara’s order has completely deprived the Lumad youth of their right to education. Amid baseless accusations, STTICLI fact-checked the president’s daughter and clarified that the Lumad schools’ students have LRNs.
Taking after her fascist father, Sara disregards the very essence of education on the Lumad youth. She undermines their right to learn, assert their national identities, and defend their ancestral lands.
Perhaps, she needs to be reminded it is precisely her father who issued that Lumad schools, the Lumad youth’s sanctuary, be bombed. It is precisely her father who orders the military to continue terrorizing IP communities.
And, it is precisely her father who prompts the Lumads to fight back, their education one of their greatest weapons.
Sara’s grim “endeavor”
Sara criminalizes dissent. Just like her father.
Last 2018, Sara called for Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) and Anakpawis Partylists to be “kicked out” for allegedly exploiting the youth. The reason being that both partylists encouraged students to take part in mass mobilizations.
Sara’s exact words would be, “Ibagsak ang ACT-Teachers, they do not endeavor to put children in schools.” The fascist prodigy followed this up by red-tagging the Makabayan Bloc as the “milking cow of terrorists.”
If Sara has to know two things, the first is that ACT and Anakpawis do not “exploit” the youth. It is precisely the anti-democratic and exploitative education system that pushes the youth to organize and dissent. The second thing that Sara has to know is that the Makabayan Bloc never recruited any “terrorist.” To dissent, to protest, to join the armed struggle will never make one a terrorist.
It is the Marcoses and the Dutertes who are the real terrorists, who deprive the youth of critical knowledge in the name of serving their own interests, who enliven a culture of impunity and violence — one that malicioudly red-tags and brainwashes the youth as they push forward with their bloodthirst for power.
Militarizing the youth
Sara aims to exceed her father’s proposal to make the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) mandatory for college students.
In a previous virtual caravan, Sara exposed her plans to make military service mandatory for the youth who have turned 18 years old. The reason being that she wants to propagate “patriotism” among the youth.
She wants the youth to serve the country by taking up arms — yet, in a fascist fashion. Of course, as a fascist prodigy herself, Sara would want to breed youth who would only align with their interests.
However, Sara must again be reminded that instilling a militarist approach on the youth would deprive them of genuine education. As a fascist institution, it will only produce mercenaries, blind followers, harassers, and killers who will never “serve and protect” the people.
Sara is wrong to establish “patriotism” alongside “militarism.” To put the AFP and PNP so close to what it means to serve the people is a glaring disrespect to all lives attacked, violated, and executed by these fascists-in-the-making.
The only way to serve the people is to learn from them and to struggle with them.
Applying the Marcos-Duterte playbook
Sara will butcher the very essence of education.
We learn and improve from what has happened in the past. Yet, with no truths to look back on, how can the youth fight back the greatest enemy of the masses today?
Sara Duterte’s partnership with the dictator’s son, Bongbong Marcos, in clinching the two highest positions in the country is a clear display of what has been orchestrated as the Marcoses’ plan to restore power.
Brandishing second chances and unity, the Marcoses aim to come back to completely erase their sins against the people. And, Sara and his father are both the greatest accomplices to that.
The Marcos-Duterte tandem’s campaign is rooted on the propagation of false news and brazen distortion of history. Their alleged lead in the presidential and vice presidential slots in the 2022 National Elections is a testament to that.
With Sara as education secretary, Martial Law movies and documentaries will be banned. Books will be burned, playing along Hitler’s handbook. Dissent against the state will cost anyone their lives.
And, as a critically-minded youth, the only way forward is to collectively resist, condemn, and fight.
Sara’s fascist playbook
Make no mistake. Sara is just as much a fascist as her father.
And her ways prove to be some of the roots of a foreboding militarist, anti-democratic form of education she and Marcos, Jr. will establish.
It will propel red-tagging, terrorism, and blind following. It will normalize abuse and impunity, indifference and violence.
It will completely undermine the nationalist, scientific, and mass-oriented brand of education the Filipino masses need and are continuously striving for.
It will deprive the youth of the truth, of emancipation.
As they aim to weaponize education to disable the youth’s radical power, it is also through education — in the streets, with the masses, from the people — that the youth will tirelessly resist, condemn, and fight back.
It is through education that the truth will remain, prevail, and champion the masses against the fascists in our midst.
#NoToMarcosDuterte2022Â
Featured image courtesy of Yahoo News
