Laying the basis for attacks

The Freeman Publication Date: [June 13, 2006]
Sun.Star Daily Publication Date: [June 16, 2006]

Local military spokesmen have been whipping up recently the old “red-scare” antics.

Groups such as the League of Filipino Students, AnakBayan, College Editors Guild of the Philippines, National Union of Students of the Philippines and the Student Christian Movement have been tagged as collaborators in recruiting minors for the Marxist-led armed struggle.

We in the University of the Philippines are alarmed with these developments. We have seen how the Arroyo government launched a massive and comprehensive plot to annihilate legal people’s organizations in the country.

The labeling of activist organizations as communist fronts is meant to terrorize the people and condition their minds to more repressive measures in the future.

Physical extermination has become the natural progression after activist leaders and members have been accused as communists.

Is Cebu the next target?

We hope not. Activist killings in Cebu will only worsen our already dismal human rights record. ■

Statement: People's Clamor?

The Freeman Publication Date: [May 6, 2006]

While the current move to revise the 1987 constitution is led by an NGO named Sigaw ng Bayan, President Arroyo’s claim of a people’s clamor for cha-cha is still very questionable. Indeed, its most vocal supporters come from the ranks of GMA’s allies.

The use of government machinery to entice people to sign up with the “people’s initiative,” regardless of whether they understand its objectives seem to confirm our suspicions that it really is a Malacañang ploy. If so, then it would be more fitting to call the move a “Politician’s initiative” or a “Palace initiatve.”

To this end, government funds have been used for the undertaking of the people’s initiative. Likewise, millions of pesos are expected to be spent in an expensive plebiscite.

Instead of wasting the people’s money on self-serving schemes, the Arroyo government should allocate more budget for education and the social services. State Universities and Colleges, like UP, have long been deprived of badly needed state subsidy for the improvement of services and facilities.

GMA and her Sigaw ng Bayan have become so confident that nothing can stop their cha-cha train. It is sad to note that they are doing so at our expense.

By Karlo Mikhail I. Mongaya
Chairperson, Student Council
UP Cebu College

Speak out: Stand up for civil liberties

Sun.Star Daily Publication Date: [April 19, 2006]

Last March 19, Cris Hugo, national council member of the League of Filipino Students, was shot dead in Legazpi City.

The police illegally abducted two leaders of the student council of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines last April 4 while speaking in a community forum.

The UP Cebu College Student Council condemns such unjust acts and all moves that aim to clamp down protests against President Arroyo’s low education budget, the sorry condition of state universities and colleges, excessive increase in tuition and other fees, and other anti-student policies.

We likewise express extreme disapproval over proposals that seek to make the Reserved Officer Training Corps mandatory again.

The revival of the obsolete, corrupt, and essentially fascist program will only exaggerate the already repressive nature of the Philippine educational system.

Despite attempts to frighten us, we will never be cowed. The authoritarian stance of the present government is not a sign of strength.

Efforts to muzzle the media, clamp down on dissent and limit civil liberties are actions of a dying regime desperate to cling to power and continue to implement policies such as the deregulation of oil, the jacking up of the value-added tax, etc.

The UP Cebu College Student Council will continue to lead the Iskolar ng Bayan in standing up for civil liberties.

We will continue to work for a mass-oriented education that will truly cater to the needs of nation building and call for meaningful social change despite the continuous deception and tyranny of a bogus and anti-people government. ■