UP Diliman students symbolically give up IDs in sympathy with Kristel

Students in the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City on Wednesday showed their sympathy for a UP Manila freshman who took her own life last Friday allegedly because she could not afford to pay tuition. Many students, joined by some employees, gathered at the Diliman campus' Palma Hall to symbolically turn over their IDs, radio dzBB's Allan Gatus reported. The report said the students attached their UP IDs to a tarpaulin with an image of the ID of the late UP Manila freshman Kristel Tejada. A tweet by Kabataan party-list group's Vencer Crisostomo said the action was a "symbolic" giving up of UP IDs. The gesture was in reference to Kristel having to surrender her UP ID card when she was forced to go on leave. Kristel took her own life last Friday allegedly because she could not afford to pay tuition. Her death prompted the UP to lift its "no late payment" policy for tuition. The suicide also triggered protest actions by several groups against high tuition in state-run colleges and universities. On Monday, students of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines protested what they called rising tuition by burning chairs. — LBG, GMA News