Posts tagged with STAND UP

Leadership and unity, as propounded by some political formations in campus, can never be conceived by mere grand statements and more so, claimed in the absence of praxis.

For such calls must always be situated in conditions that manifestly surround us. Indeed, more recently, we have emerged victorious in our fight against a vicious attempt by the administration and its cohorts in the person of false student leaders, that tried to rob us of our representation in university governance and tested the power of our concerted action. It is important to note that it was only STAND-UP which has been firm in its struggle for genuine student representation by defending the Office of the Student Regent, while other political groups have collaborated to further their own selfish interests and hunger for power in the guise of flawed calls for “democratization” and “student participation”.

It is in light of this that we challenge ALYANSA and KAISA to go beyond the confines of their deceptive and misguided advocacies through an honest assessment of their actions in the past years. True leaders, after all, are judged not by their seemingly noble yet hollow declarations in a desperate effort to gain public approval, but by their concrete efforts to unite with their people armed with the sharpest of principles and a clear course of action. As such, the formations must be exposed for the populist and vacillating groups that they truly are.

Read the rest of this entry »

Topping the previous elections is sure to make a lot of people expect you to run for the student council the next year. Indeed, for the past weeks, it’s been a nagging question among friends, random strangers I bump along the campaign trail and even on blogs and message boards. This is my first election season in four where I’m not a candidate. To be perfectly honest about it, it was simply because of a grade I got in one of my major subjects in Law last semester, which effectively disqualified me. It was quite unfortunate, and it has caused me, and my circle of friends, brods and colleagues some disappointment. For a few days some weeks ago, I felt quite bad how disappointed I made some people feel. But that’s over, there are many other ways of serving the people and the students. Once again it’s student council election season in UP Diliman.

I never would have realized how similarly and even more tiring managing the campaign is than being a candidate. I shall be posting pictures from the past days in the next few entries. Here’s some from STAND-UP (Student Alliance for the Advancement of Democratic Rights – UP) presentation of candidates for the student council elections.

Last week, we secured the historic success of the CRSRS (Codified Rules on Student Regent Selection) Referendum, a process that drew over 26,000 students from all over the nation, a resounding 73% if which voted yes. This is the epic triumph of all iskolar ng bayan who responded to the clarion call of the times, heeding the need to defend that most basic of civil liberties ““ fair representation.

Our success in the referendum attests to three things: that efforts to discredit the mandate of the Office of the Student Regent ““ an institution that is borne and continues to assume the democratic struggle of the students ““ will end in futility; that attempts to place student representation at the crux of uncertainty will fail at the gates of our collective dissent; and finally, that we are ready to overcome divisions so that higher battles may be fought and won over.

Indeed, both the UP administration and the state have evolved mechanisms to thwart our democratic rights, covertly attacking student formations and institutions. Yet no assault can withstand the strength of our united stance; our collective resolve shall always persist and prevail.

Read the rest of this entry »

Under the theme, “Defend Student Rights, Uphold Human Rights,” STAND-UP (Student Alliance for the Advancement of Democratic Rights – UP) marked its 12th anniversary more than two weeks ago coinciding with the commemoration of International Human Rights Week, an Anti-Charter Change campaign and a campaign to Defend Student Rights and the Office of the Student Regent.

On Saturday, December 6, together with its member and observer organizations and student formations under the League of Youth For the Environment (LYFE), the alliance held a road-painting activity along the street between the Faculty Center and Palma Hall. Aside from the orgs’ logos, the most prominent mark on the asphalt canvass is the large “Defend Student Rights, Student Regent” call, which highlights the important campus campaign to defend the Student Regent institution.

STAND-UP 12th Anniversary Congress (Dec. 8, '08) STAND-UP 12th Anniversary Congress (Dec. 8, '08) STAND-UP 12th Anniversary Congress (Dec. 8, '08) STAND-UP 12th Anniversary Congress (Dec. 8, '08) STAND-UP 12th Anniversary Congress (Dec. 8, '08) STAND-UP 12th Anniversary Cultural Night (Dec. 10, '08)

On Monday, December 8, the alliance held a congress at the College of Education Theater, attended by member and guest organizations, and guest speakers Teodoro Casino of Bayan Muna and Vencer Crisostomo of League of Filipino Students. It was a whole day of talks, discussions and resolution building, all towards advancing the campaign for students’ rights and the broad campaign against Charter change.

The next day, the alliance participated in the launching of Cine Veritas Human Rights Festival, together with the UP Film Institute, the University Student Council and other participating institutions and organizations. The week-long festival was opened by a human rights march around the Academic Oval and an exhibit opening at the Ishmael Bernal Gallery at the UP Cine Adarna. The four-day festival aimed to promote human rights awareness through various multi-media and multi-format activities organized by the participating groups.

Read the rest of this entry »

There is no room for indifference or fence-sitting, especially when doing so only bolsters a status quo where the rights of many are sacrificed at the altar of narrow interests.

The University of the Philippines sits at a unique juncture in history.

This year, we, Iskolars ng Bayan, have witnessed the turning points in both the local and the international arena; turning points that have introduced rapid changes that rippled across the country and into the university. From the Wall Street meltdown to the UP centennial, these shifts define the juncture in which the Philippines and UP is imbricated, and in this decisive moment, the Student Alliance for the Advancement of Democratic Rights – UP (STAND-UP) reaffirms and invigorates its principles — to serve the students and the wide majority of the Filipino people. This year calls for nothing less than the most steadfast commitment to the students’ rights and the larger interests of the people.

But while this tumultuous year draws to a close, the critical hour of dissent is far from over.

In its centennial year, UP has much to be proud of. Within the university’s grounds, cries for social transformation have propelled the politicization of entire generations, giving birth to a social movement that tirelessly clamored for national emancipation from the Marcos dictatorship and from neoliberal policies. It is this tradition of critical dissent which STAND-UP continues to uphold, leaving no room for neutrality or passivity.

Read the rest of this entry »

This has got to be my most hectic Christmas season yet. From big campus and national campaigns to extra-curricular functions, and almost none of them related to Christmas.

This week, for example, as part of the Defend the Office of the Student Regent campaign of KASAMA sa UP (Katipunan ng mga Sangguniang Mag-aaral sa UP), we’re going to have a twelve-hour concert this Friday, right after the broad multi-sectoral mobilization in Makati against the Arroyo administration’s attempt at Charter Change.

This week is also the 12th anniversary week of STAND-UP (Student Alliance for the Advancement of Democratic Rights – UP), where starting last Saturday, we’ve been having daily activities, from an all-day road painting, to an alliance congress to a cultural night tonight to an alumni night this Saturday.

In the University Student Council, we’ve also been having our last activities and assemblies for the year. We’ve just co-launched the Cine Veritas Human Rights Festival and wrapped up Karolfest yesterday, then there’s a big University Convocation tomorrow–and that’s not all, I still have to produce our last newsletter for the year.

For the past weeks up until this coming Friday, we’ve also been having weekly events and functions in Upsilon Sigma Phi for our 90th anniversary. We had our annual car stuffing and food stuffing event last Friday.

I haven’t even mentioned the increasing pile of academic workload for this semester. And speaking of law school, my block organized a forum this Friday, about judicial integrity, then we’re also having the annual Malcolm Madness this Saturday.

Next week, there would still be preparations for the Lantern Parade, then there’d be the KASAMA sa UP NC Meet, and to cap it all off, an All UP Student Councils Assembly which promises to be a stressful and heated assembly of student councils with conflicting ideologies and interests.

So, where’s the Christmas spirit? Where are the Christmas parties? I haven’t had time for any! Masyadong maraming kailangang isipin, gawin at napakaraming problema lang talaga sa UP at sa Pilipinas. I need to cheer up, and well, gear up for another year soon.

The STAND-UP (Student Alliance for the Advancement of Democratic Rights – UP) 12th ANNIVERSARY WEEK-LONG CELEBRATION will be held on December 8-13, 2008 and will culminate in a concert with various mainstream and alternative bands in cooperation with the Office of Student Regent at the UP Sunken Garden. The events during the week are as follows:

December 5, Friday:
STATE OF WORKER’S RIGHTS YEAR-END REPORT 2008
with Center for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR)

1:00 pm to 5:00 pm
Benitez Hall Auditorium, UP College of Education

December 6, Saturday:
ROAD PAINTING SA ACAD OVAL
with the Office of the Student Regent

10:00 am to 2:00 pm
Stretch of AS to College of Education, Academic Oval

Read the rest of this entry »

Some of my colleagues in the University Student Council and I joined the youth rally Tuesday last week to condemn the Arroyo administration’s pronouncements of Charter change and term extension. That was the day before the House of Representatives’ Justice Committee junked the latest attempt to unseat President Arroyo through impeachment.

We held a short program with the people at Plaza Miranda before snaking around the Quiapo area to encourage people to join the march to Mendiola where we were eventually blocked by the usual police barricade. After holding a brief program near Morayta, we dispersed peacefully.

We all know the President has the House of Representatives. And after sowing division among opposition senators (fueled by their own political ambitions) in the Senate, it’s now also effectively hers, too. The Supreme Court is also soon going to be hers with her impending appointment of seven SC Justices, effectively transforming the highest court in the land into an assembly of Arroyo appointees. The military leadership is also hers. The last impeachment attempt before 2010 has been junked. Her Congressional allies are a few votes short of convening a Constituent Assembly to change the Constitution. The entire machinery of the government is effectively at her disposal. Maintaining the loyalty of all these crocodiles, of course, entails an enormous cost on ordinary Filipino taxpayers.

Read the rest of this entry »

When Press Secretary Jesus Dureza prayed last November 18 in a Cabinet meeting that Gloria Arroyo will continue to lead the country “even beyond 2010,” he actually meant it. The President herself also meant it, even as she pretended to be embarrassed, as the events before and after the prayer indicate that the Charter change is set up once again for an Arroyo dictatorship beyond 2010.

After its failed attempt to use the MOA on Acestral Domain with the MILF to initiate constitutional amendments, the US-Arroyo regime is now more desperate than ever to clear the way for the Charter change express. Arroyo’s last ditch effort to extend her term is without the usual theatrics and pretensions – the danger of term extension is now staring us at the eye.

Read the rest of this entry »

Anti-War Anti-Chacha Festival, STAND-UP, Student Alliance for the Advancement of Democratic Rights-UP

Last September 17, students and progressive groups in UP Diliman held an Anti-War Anti-Cha-Cha Festival in protest against the war in Mindanao, Charter Change, and continued gas hikes.

The whole-day activity was kick-started by anti-war games at the lobby of Palma Hall as a form of protest against the continuing deployment of military and US troops in Mindanao. The main game was “Dodgeball Against GMA” where two-teams–one twenty-strong team composed of students in 70′s attire and another in GMA masks–went head to head for the dodgeball championship. The tournament sought to symbolize the triumph of pro-people policies against the current ones being implemented by President Arroyo.

Part of the festival was a forum in the afternoon by leading UP faculty at the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy Audio-Visual Room. That was a forum regarding the prospects of the continuing war in light of the current peace negotiations.