MEMBERS of the Samahan ng Progresibong Kabataan on Monday joined other groups that held a rally in Mendiola, Manila to mark Bonifacio Day.

They lashed out at the Duterte administration for its alleged “inexcusable neglect and failures” on national issues.

The group said that the Filipino youth have exhausted “all means of diplomatically holding the administration accountable” for its handling of the pandemic, disasters and the problems faced by the education sector.

This was the reason behind its ‘drastic’ action — the launching of student strikes.

“To our fellow youth struggling with distance learning — it’s time to put our foot down and strike back against this much vaunted yet failed ‘new normal’ of the Duterte administration and join the growing student movement,” John Lazaro, the group’s national spokesperson, said.

The SPARK has earlier backed the student strikes launched in some schools including the Ateneo de Manila University and the University of the Philippines-Diliman.

The group claimed that these strikes were provoked by ‘systemic issues’  that worsened the health, economic, and climate crises.

“Just as the Katipuneros under Bonifacio fought for revolutionary social change from colonial bondage, so too do the students of today who strike to fight for a better normal we truly deserve, together with broad ranks of the toiling masses,” Lazaro said.