Anakbayan wishes ‘Pacman’ well in fight, thanks him for support in anti-budget cut fight

Youth group Anakbayan expresses its support for Congressman Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao in his fight against Antonio Margarito tomorrow. The group recognizes the national pride that his victories in the boxing ring have given to the Filipino people.

At the same time, Anakbayan would like to thank Pacquiao for taking part in another, and much more important fight: the campaign against proposed education budget cuts for 2011. The “Pacman” is one of the one hundred lawmakers who signed a resolution which was primarily authored by Kabataan Partylist representative Mong Palatino and Bayan Muna representative Teddy Casiño.  The resolution opposes the proposed P1.1 billion slash to the maintenance and operating budget for the country’s 112 State Universities and Colleges (SUCs).

At the same time, Anakbayan also opposes the entire 2011 national budget as an “anti-youth, anti-poor” budget for slashing the budget of important social services such as state universities, government hospitals, the National Food Authority’s purchasing of palay, sale of cheap rice, and the subsidy for the MRT and LRT train systems.

As a nationalist and democratic youth organization of young workers, farmers, students, migrant and urban poor youth, Anakbayan hopes that the “Pacman” will continue to help the Filipino youth and people develop a ‘knockout punch’ against the anti-poor 2011 budget.