Posts tagged with political repression

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June 6, 2010

On rules prescribed by the Catholic university of the Philippines

Upon enrollment at a law school of a Catholic university in Manila, I was made to sign a conforme prescribing the kind of conduct and discipline the university imposes on all its students.

At the onset, I was taken aback. Not only because I had come from a relatively more liberal environment in the University of the Philippines, but I simply found it repulsive that there are specific prohibitions on what I’ve always thought were personal and political rights.

I understand the concept of “academic freedom” on the side of educational institutions and that they are granted institutional liberty to define what to teach and how to teach concepts and even character and values, but when institutions use this liberty to invade the realm of personal conduct and even appearance in guise of character-building, I think it is wrong.

Aside from prescriptions on personal and inter-personal conduct, there are also vague prescriptions on political actions such as rallies and strikes. In the list of policy guidelines, it is noted that in order to achieve and maintain “peace and order,” students must refrain from “joining boycotts, assemblies, parades or marches, or other gatherings that tend to create unnecessary noise and/or disturbance.” Another provision desists students from “instigating or leading illegal strikes/rallies or similar concerted activities resulting in the stoppage or disruption of classes.”

These provisions virtually bans all rallies, because all rallies create “disturbance”. It is in the very nature of such demonstrations. These provisions were used consistently to suspend and expel student activists in the university.

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March 27, 2010

Our freedom and our rights were not won with diplomacy

Anuman ang sabihin ng mga kontra-aktibista, wala nang ibang magpapatunay sa kawastuhan ng linya at pamamaraaan na tinahak ng mga estudyanteng nag-protesta laban sa tuition hike kung hindi ang mismong pag-atras at pagsuko ng CHED (Commission on Higher Education) at ng PUP (Polytechnic University of the Philippines) administration sa kanilang maitim na balak, at ang hindi pagkakatuloy sa paga-apruba ng mga bagong bayarin sa UP (University of the Philippines) nang dahil sa kolektibong pagkilos ng mga kabataan. The campaigns wouldn’t have been successful any other way.

To be clear, Kabataan Partylist, together with its founding organizations like the National Union of Students of the Philippines and its student leaders, have long pursued lobbying for greater state subsidy for education and holding dialogues against any attempt to hike tuition and other fees. We have always been ever mindful and aware, however, that it is militant and collective action that is decisive in winning our democratic fights. The government never granted us our rights on a silver platter, after all, especially when it is equally determined to pursue its selfish agenda, without any genuine intention to listen to the demands of its constituents. True enough, students had to barricade Quezon Hall, bring down the gates of CHED’s main office and throw paint bombs at its glass doors for these offices to bow down to the democratic interests of the people they were supposed to serve.

Nais kong ibalik ang tanong sa mga kontra-aktibista. Ano ba ang sinasabi ninyong mas mapayapa at mas epektibong paraan na hindi namin ginawa? Ginawa niyo ba ito?

Napakabilis ng pagkondena ng mga kontra-aktibista sa “marahas” na paraan na ginawa ng mga estudyante. Nasaan ang inyong pagkondena sa tuition increase na kung tutuusin ay mas marahas dahil sa pagkakait nito ng magandang kinabukasan sa libo-libong kabataan? Ni hindi ko narinig ni nakita miski sa isang Facebook status message ang pagtutol ninyo dito.

Is it that easy to forget, that throughout history, the freedom of nations, the rights of the people were never won with mere diplomacy. All of them were fought for by the people through street protests and bloody revolutions.

Today, five student leaders of PUP remain detained under the custody of the police for charges of of “robbery” filed against them by the shamed PUP administration. These students were among the hundreds who tried to bring to the gates of CHED their dilapidated desks as a sign of protest against the state’s abandonment of education. Samantala, patuloy pa rin ang sistematikong pagnanakaw sa kaban ng bayan, ang pagakakait sa mamamayan ng karapatan sa serbisyong panlipunan, at ang pinakamadugas na magnanakaw ay nasa Malacanang.

(Students will still gather and hold a protest action on March 29, 2010 at the Board of Regents meeting of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines at a posh bayside hotel in Manila, to ensure that CHED and the PUP administration hold true to their word that they will not increase tuition in the nation’s largest state university.)

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January 1, 2010

Films Seen in 2010 #1

Let me start the year with an attempt to write about all the films I will see throughout the year, again. I tried doing this back in 2008 but I wasn’t able to sustain it, largely because I got too busy with law school and student council activities. This time, I’ll try doing my commentaries with themes and motifs.

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June 21, 2009

Age of Consent

On the issue of the UP Student Code and national issue of the Constituent Assembly

It was modern thinking that placed a high premium on Consent as a foundation of law. Consent has a transformative moral power, but it has its own pitfall: it can transform a wrongful action into a rightful one. If Manny Pacquiao had knocked down Ricky Hatton outside of the ring, he would have been prosecuted for serious physical injuries.

Still, this philosophy stems from the core belief that all men are reasonable, and that Reason will then lead us all to a single, unassailable conclusion. This legal theory, stridently discussed in Malcolm Hall, is relentlessly tested in practice. We note two particular instances: in proposals for a new code for student discipline in Diliman, and for a constituent assembly to change the Charter.

When the UP administration moved for the codification of student rules sometime in 2005, students were only allowed piecemeal participation. In a university where 80% of students are older than 18 years ““ the age of consent ““ the lack of active and inclusive student participation is suspect. The drafting of the Code undermines the basic right of students to be consulted, represented, and decide in the formulation of policies that affect their rights and welfare.

UMAKSYON last year joined 100 other student organizations, in submitting to the Board of Regents an 18-point demand “reclaiming the rights of student organizations in the University of the Philippines”. The document specifically demanded student council control over two properties; softer rules on organization and assembly; and secure student representation or participation in important campus activities.

In contrast, the draft Diliman Student Code emphasizes that the use of university facilities and the use of a tambayan is a grant, a privilege. It also offered stricter guidelines on student organizations, and barely promised solutions to staffing and appointment issues of student publications and representatives. What the draft code puts forward is a simpler procedure for discipline cases.

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May 25, 2009

Bayan calls on Arroyo government to surface Fil-Am activist Melissa Roxas and companions

Melissa RoxasThe Bagong Alyansang Makabayan is calling on the Arroyo government, the Department of National Defense and the Armed Forces of the Philippines to immediately surface Melissa Roxas, an American citizen of Filipino descent, and a member of BAYAN-USA and the cultural group Habi Arts based in Los Angeles, California.

Roxas was abducted last May 19 at around 1:30 pm in Sitio Bagong Sikat, Bgy. Kapanikian, La Paz, Tarlac. She was with two other volunteers, Juanito Carabeo and John Edward Handoc.

Based on reports filed by the human rights group Karapatan and the La Paz police, Roxas and her companions were taken by at least 8 fully-armed, bonnet-clad men on board two motorcycles and a Besta van without any plate numbers.

Since the abduction, there has been no word of the whereabouts and condition of Roxas and her companions.

Roxas is the first case of a Fil-Am activist to be abducted by suspected state security forces.

“It is indeed urgent that Melissa and her companions be surfaced. No harm must come to them. Their rights must be respected. We are outraged that these abductions continue despite repeated condemnation here and abroad,” said Bayan secretary general Renato M. Reyes, Jr.

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May 7, 2009

Arroyo order phony unless generals punished

On P25M reward for informants on political killings

Kabataan Party-list Rep. Mong Palatino today said that President Arroyo’s order to put up a P25 million fund for a reward system for informants on political killings is phony and hypocritical unless she punishes her generals.

“Several independent investigations, fact-finding missions and official inquiries have all pointed to the military as culprits in cases of extra-judicial killings, abductions, harassment and torture yet not one general or military official has been punished despite glaring physical or circumstancial evidence,” Palatino said.

Palatino cited, for instance, United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or special executions Philip Alston’s report and star witness on the Cadapan-Empeno case Raymond Manalo’s testimony.

Alston, in 2007, criticized the military for being in a `state of total denial’ of the involvement of its members in political killings, while Manalo requested for protection in a sworn statement submitted to the Supreme Court after he recounted his first-hand account of abduction, detention and torture by the military before escaping on August 13, 2007. Manalo also positively identified Ret. Gen. Jovito Palparan in a military camp where he claimed he saw abducted University of the Philippines students Karen Empeno and Sherlyn Cadapan being kept and tortured.

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April 30, 2009

Kabataan party-list rep musters youth support for JLo

“We hope Truth virus sweeps the land.”

Kabataan Party-list Rep. Mong Palatino today called on all youth and students who cheered and rallied for Rodolfo “˜Jun’ Lozada to once again show their support for the ZTE whistleblower.

“Lozada’s accusers are enemies of truth and freedom. His arrest is clearly politically-motivated and Malacanang is at the helm. We call on all youth and students to condemn his arrest and show support for Lozada as they did at the height of the ZTE controversy,” Palatino said.

Palatino also hailed Lozada for refusing to give up the fight. “He has committed himself to the cause for truth and accountability at the expense of his family’s life and his children’s future. Even at the event of his arrest, he refused to bow down to harassment and persecution. The youth admires him for his strength despite his fear and apprehension.”

“During these times, the youth needs more role models like Lozada. May his sacrifice and strength enjoin the youth and the people to carry on with the fight for truth. We hope a Truth virus sweeps the land and inflicts us all,” Palatino said.

“We also appeal to other witnesses in the ZTE broadband controversy to come out now. Lozada’s arrest attempts to send a chilling effect to other whistleblowers but they must not be cowered. They have the youth behind them,” said Palatino.

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April 25, 2009

2009 UP Diliman Code of Student Conduct

Manifesto of unity calling for the junking of the proposed 2009 Code of Student Conduct and for the forwarding of an alternative, democratic Code
Ugnayan ng Mag-aaral Laban sa Komersyalisasyon ng Edukasyon (UMAKSYON)

We, students of the University of the Philippines, firmly denounce the questionable procedures through which the draft of 2009 Code of Student Conduct (CSC) was formulated, as well as oppose its anti-student and repressive character. We firmly believe that the proposed Code runs counter to the student demands that we have long forwarded to the Board of Regents since the start of the academic year, and as such deserves the greatest condemnation from the ranks of students and organizations aspiring to uphold their democratic rights in the University.

The provisions of the Code did not undergo student consultation.

At the onset, the drafting of the Code has already violated the basic right of students to be consulted and represented in the formulation of policies that affect their rights and welfare. The procedure by which it was drafted undermines the capacity of the students to recommend solutions to long-standing student issues in the University.

Moreover, it is unjust that the Code was consulted to College administrators, while the assertion of the University Student Council to participate in the drafting of the Code was deliberately refused.

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November 25, 2008

Police detain UP students for protesting in campus

Last Friday morning, as I was busy attending to some tasks at our medical mission for the UP Manininda and their families at the Palma Hall parking lot, I was informed by Jaque, a fellow councilor in the University Student Council, that some fellow students were arrested by the Presidential Security Group and brought to a police station along Anonas for holding a peaceful protest at the UP-Ayala Techno Hub on the occasion of President Arroyo’s arrival for the park’s inauguration.

Together with Jaque and some of my law blockmates, we immediately proceeded to QC Police Station 9 along Anonas to help settle things with authorities and ensure that the students will not get jailed, harmed or anything of that sort. For more than two hours, the police refused to release the students without orders from their higher-ups even though no charges were filed. Eventually, dozens of other students flocked to the station and pressed for the eight students’ release. Soon enough, the media came. Calls from the UP Administration itself ultimately pressured the police to eventually release the students.

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November 9, 2008

Prosecution as a tool for repression

The first class that we had for this semester is the Legal Profession class we had last Friday afternoon. After the customary self-introductions and whatnot, and before the professor dismissed the class, she asked us to write a short essay on why we wanted to become lawyers, with leading questions that struck some of us. Do we genuinely want to become lawyers to be of service to the people, or are we just pressured by family or peers, or inspired by ambition, politics and wealth?

I’ve always believed that the legal arena is the arena of the ruling order. I’ve always believed our current legal system exists largely to preserve the status quo. Who, after all, makes and passes all our laws. Sure, there are such things such as the bill of rights and the state policies and principles enshrined in our Constitution. But they are there to serve as illusions, a smokescreen to the real and operational code. The wealthy and the powerful get away with anything using the legal system. Farmers and workers are deprived of their rights and a better way of life in favor of capitalists using the legal system. It’s terribly frustrating.

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