Help prevent fires

March is designated Fire Prevention Month but ironically  this is the month when  numerous fire incidents break  out in Metro Manila and Cebu, a pattern seen over the years.
Of course there are varied  causes for the fires,  foremost of which is  lack of  vigilance to take steps to prevent it from happening.

The number one cause of  fire  is basically electrical misuse, followed by cooking accidents inside the house where the fire is left unattended, often by someone who has stepped out for an errand.

Another cause involves children who are  left alone at home and play with matches. Before they know it, the house catches  fire and sometimes  spreads throughout the neighborhood. Then there’s the  abuse of electrical extensions at home where there are  few outlets and a lot of appliances. In Manila, the problem of  illegal connections and tapping into the power supply  is also  happening here in Cebu.

I hope that with the fast-growing   population  especially in urban areas,  residents exercise more vigilance to prevent  these fire hazards. Here are some reminders.

First, stop stealing electricity by illegally tapping into the power supply of your neighbor with or without their permission.

Second, minimize the use of electric extensions at home, especially  octopus extensions.

Third, please don’t  leave a  cooking fire unattended or  leave children unsupervised at home. In communities that are  thickly populated,  residents should be extra careful  in watching over their neighbors especially in preventing fire.

* * *
Now that the semester is about to end  and  a new school year is set  to begin,  schools are faced with the perennial issue of  tuition increases. Militant students continue to mouth their motherhood statement opposing any increase.  I understand the objections, especially  because a tuition increase is  indeed an additional burden on parents. But my beef with student protestors is that they are barking up the wrong tree with demonstrations and rallies that blame the school administration.

When I was president of the University of San Carlos (USC)  faculty association, I had the opportunity to look closely into this problem. One must remember that the USC administration didn’t ask for the  tuition increase; it was the teachers and non-teaching employees who did so that the school could provide better salaries and compensation.
The school  administration had to  accede to the call of employees and even pleaded with the staff  to keep the increase  minimal because it would burden  students. And indeed, the tuition hike at that time was minimal.

Today, I reiterate my position that  militant students are addressing their complaints to the wrong party. Protests have recurred for years yet schools continue to increase their tuition.

If I were the students, I would  ask   Congress to amend the law passed during the Marcos era that specified that any increment of  tuition increases would be  the source of benefits asked for by  employees. The Marcos-era presidential decree mandates how  the pie is to be divided with  70 percent to go to wages and benefits of teachers and non-teaching employees, 10 percent for the profit of the school and 20 percent for  the development of universities and colleges.

There was a time that  employees and teachers used up to 80 percent of  the incremental tuition increase. What students can do is review the finances of the schools by hiring good accountants and to double check if the collected tuition increase is  used for what it was intended especially since there are  many fees imposed by private colleges and universities.

Militant students should lobby and ask Congress to grant the teachers and employees a tax break of 50 percent of their salary. With this, school personnel  will have better take-home pay, and  moratorium on tuition increases may even happen.

Read more...