KABATAAN Partylist has called on Bestlink College of the Philippines to stop downplaying the complaints of students who were allegedly forced to participate in an exhausting and unsafe educational trip, likened to the Bataan Death March.

The organization is also demanding a full refund of the mandatory fees paid by students and their parents for the trip.

Kabataan National Spokesperson and First Nominee Atty. Renee Co expressed serious concern over the incident, citing multiple reports from students who endured extreme fatigue during the trip.

“The evidence of the forced Bataan ‘death march’ that Bestlink students went through is already on Facebook Live. Let’s not gaslight the students to evade accountability. Some even fainted,” Co stated.

Co further criticized the college for allegedly coercing students into joining the trip under the threat of failing grades.

“Parents should be refunded for this trip, especially since many of their children were forced to participate out of fear they would receive a failing or blank grade if they refused,” she asserted.

The incident has sparked wider discussions about the rising costs and questionable nature of mandatory educational trips in private schools.

Co highlighted the need to regulate such practices, arguing that some institutions exploit students by imposing exorbitant fees for off-campus activities.

“We need to scrutinize these expensive and compulsory off-campus tours that are turning into scams, draining money from students and their families,” she emphasized.

Kabataan Partylist is calling on Congress to conduct an investigation into the incident and the broader issue of school-imposed travel fees.

Co stressed that education should not be treated as a business and that institutions must be held accountable for exploiting students.