Mong Palatino on NUSP

NUSP was fun: I met new friends from other schools, I was given the opportunity to go around the country, and I met my wife in an NUSP-related event. 

I was with NUSP for four years, 1999-2003. Those were exciting and interesting times for the country. We ousted a president, we abolished the ROTC, and cell phone texting was still free.

Every student leader is an aspiring reformer in one way or another. And through NUSP, I learned the importance of linking the parochial concerns of students with the people’s demand for justice and democracy. Why stop with school lobbying or tuition campaigns when we can struggle for broader reforms in society?

In other words, NUSP made me realize that the student movement should always aspire for greater political goals. In retrospect, it was probably a key motivation in my decision to help establish a partylist group which later became the country’s first elected youth representative.

I am proud and grateful that I was once part of NUSP. Mabuhay!

Mong Palatino

NUSP National President 2001-2003