Youth and students in the university belt, led by ONE U-BELT, marched in Manila on February 16 to express opposition to the commercialization of education and resistance against the Marcos regime’s foreign-oriented charter change or “chacha”. National-democratic youth groups gathered at the University of Santo Tomas in España and marched to the Far Eastern University campus in Morayta.

The groups demand that once the Marcos regime railroads “chacha”, it will intensify the commercialization of education in the country because it will allow full foreign ownership of educational institutions. This will mean an increase in tuition, lack of facilities, and suppression of students’ academic freedom.

“The Marcos regime’s charter change threatens to turn our country into a playground for large foreign corporations to commercialize and privatize services to the people, particularly education,” Anakbayan-Morayta said. The group insists, this is proof that Marcos’ “chacha” scheme does not serve the people.