Lasallians join nationwide protests, hold alternative classes at EDSA Shrine

As the University supports alternative venues for learning, faculty and students were encouraged to hold alternative classes at the EDSA Shrine “to provide students a rich and more relevant education.”

The University, along with other member schools of the Catholic Educators’ Association of the Philippines (CEAP), went to the streets to express disgust and anger for the blatant travesty during the last Senate impeachment proceedings.

In an official statement, the Lasallian family says: “Given the impossibility of resignation and the willful subversion of the constitutional process of impeachment, the only way left to solve the turmoil that engulfs us at present is to OUST ERAP! To do this, we have our past experience to work on.”

Aside from participating in concerted, peaceful, prayerful, and sustained mass actions to compel Estrada to step down, the Lasallian community also vowed to address other structural concerns through its various socio-civic action programs beyond the Estrada episode.

During the National Day of Protest last January 19, Lasallian faculty and staff, students and alumni converged at the EDSA Shrine. La Salle has put up a tent at the corner of Ortigas Avenue and EDSA (Corinthian Side), which is manned 24 hours a day.

Brother Roly speaks on peace education in the Philippines in national meet

De La Salle University System President Brother Rolando Dizon, FSC underscored the need to foster a culture of peace in various spheres of society in his paper presented in the Philippine Council for Peace and Global Education (PCPGE) National Assembly held at the Angelo King International Center from January 8 to 9. This year’s theme wass “The Role of Schools in Promoting a Culture of Peace.”

In his paper titled, “Peace Education in the Philippines: Present Realities and Desired Scenarios,” he stressed that homes, schools, mass media, and the church should instill and develop peace education programs for children. He said that parents should set clear guidelines and monitor exposure to all forms of mass media and they should also coordinate with schools.

The Brother President, who is currently PCPGE vice president, also noted that peace education programs should be part of the formal and informal curriculum. He suggested that reward structures should be set up by schools to encourage peaceful behavior. In the case of higher education, there should be more courses and degree programs in peace and environmental education.

In matters that cross borders between moral guidelines and partisan politics, Brother Roly mentioned that the Church “must ensure peaceful interventions and involve more lay leaders in making important decisions and pronouncements.”

PCPGE was founded as an affiliate of Global Education Associates in 1979. A consortium of more than 100 universities, colleges and secondary schools throughout the Philippines, it promotes global education and policies that address local, national and global systemic causes of poverty, violence, conflict and environmental destruction.