Saturday, May 10, 2008 Ermita welcomed with gripe on PUP graduating rites
AFTER the President brushed in with some members of militant groups calling for her ouster, it was now the turn of Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita who was greeted Friday by several graduating students of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) with their own "Oust Gloria" banners.
Ermita was guest speaker and honored by the PUP with an honorary Doctorate for Public Administration during the state university's commencement exercises at the World Trade Center in Pasay City.
A staff of the Executive Secretary said he had just been introduced and acknowledging the several university officials, the 2,500 graduates, and their parents, when a male student in black dress and toga stood up from his second row seat and went in front of Ermita carrying an "Oust Gloria" streamer.
The student was met by two other students in front carrying a bigger banner calling the President a berdugo or butcher. Two others students with their closed fist held high joined the trio as Ermita, who was standing on stage behind them, continued with his speech.
Instead of having the students arrested or removed from the area, they were simply escorted back to their seats as Ermita continued to speak as if nothing happened.
"I thought they are welcoming me. I don't take this thing very seriously. There are people who want to draw attention," he said laughingly after the event.
Ermita's staff added that the Executive Secretary is unfazed by the "rude" welcome and would again attend another public speaking engagement on Saturday at the teacher's Camp in Baguo City.
Arroyo had been the recipient of similar "welcome" organized by militant group members, which resulted in their immediate arrest that included a graduation rite of the Cavite State University in 2006.
During Ermita's speech, he acknowledged the faculty members, officers and staff of PUP for their efforts and contributions in molding the characters of the graduates and university students, the parents for supporting and ensuring that their children got a proper education and the graduates themselves for proving that they deserved the support and trust that was accorded them.
He said the diploma that the graduates received are a symbol of their education and being educated. He urged them to use their education to be a good citizen who is productive and ready to help the country move forward and progressively.
Ermita acknowledged that the PUP students, apart from what they learned in the classroom, had been made aware of what is happening around them which helped build their characters and made them question and seek out the truth.
He urged the graduates to take a closer look of the progress our country has made stressing that there is much to hope for in what government has done and continues to do.
"Whatever has been said by those who oppose it (government), we have a government and a leader in President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who tries everything that she can to make a better life for our people," he said as if to defend Arroyo from the students that carried the "Oust Gloria" banners.
He cited that under the Arroyo government the country is now: moving towards a balanced budget, has a strong peso, spurring a decrease in interest rates in debt service, investing more on infrastructures and enjoyed a growth in gross domestic rate that reached 7.3 percent in 2007.
He added that while the "inflation rate maybe moving above our targets, we will do everything that we can to soften its impact on our people, especially the poor."
Ermita cited as example the issues of rice and oil, which he stressed, is not an issue of scarcity of supply but of high prices which is determined by world market forces.
"Contrary to those who spawn panic and disenchantment among our people, both are not issues of scarcity. Rather they dwell on the issue of price; but that is not saying that we are helpless against the world outside, or we are not. Government will always be there to ensure that rice supply is sufficient and steady, and energy will continue to serve us well," he said. (JMR/Sunnex)
