UP POLSCi asserts that “activism is not terrorism” while state-aligned trolls and personalities conflate the two to give baseless justifications of state-sponsored harassments and killings of its critics.
For the second time, the UP Political Society (UP POLSCi) was red-tagged by a certain ‘Baste Duterte FP’ Facebook page after their previous calls in support of protest actions held last May 12 and 13.
In a Facebook post today, Baste Duterte FP maliciously claimed UP POLSCi’s action as ‘inciting rebellion,’ and consequently stated that the organization must resort to filing a case instead of causing public obstruction.
Contrary to the page’s claims, UP POLSCi posted a protest call-out last May 11 enjoining the UP community to raise demands in condemning the fraudulent conduct of the 2022 national elections.
UP POLSCi vehemently condemns Baste Duterte FP’s attack, and reiterates that the right to protest is a constitutional right.
“Ang protesta ay hindi isinasagawa upang pigilan ang pamahalaan sa pagganap ng kaniyang tungkulin. Bagkus, ito ang tinig ng marhinalisadong mamamayan na nagpapaalala sa gobyerno kung sino ang tunay na may kapangyarihan at sino ang dapat na pinagsisilbihan,” UP POLSCi asserted.
Additionally, UP POLSCi’s post’s caption had also been collectively used by other organizations to amplify calls in holding the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) accountable, to encourage students to join walk-out protests and to take part in mobilizations and group discussions instead, and to resist the impending Marcos-Duterte administration.
UP POLSCi underscored the significance of conducting walk-out protests and stressed that it is the students’ means to ensure and put into practice the theories they learn inside their classrooms.
“Mayroong karapatan ang taumbayan na panagutin ang mga nasa poder, at mandato nilang makinig, mapa-institusyonal man ang anyo o hindi — bulwagan o lansangan man ang daluyan ng tinig,” they stated.
This is not the first time UP POLSCi was rendered vulnerable to further state intimdation.
Last May 18, Richard Poon, a known Duterte supporter, red-tagged UP POLSCi’s annual politics camp “Ped Xing.” and said that the event was meant to “[teach] minors to have unbiased hatred towards the government.”
Poon proceeded to tag the account of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon and SOLCOM Commander Gen. Antonio Parlade to UP POLSCi’s post.
This recent attack, among others, is part of a larger scale of intimidation, harassment, and surveillance among students, campus publications, and the faculty, as the Marcos Jr. presidency nears its start and Duterte’s term nears its end.
Recently, a staffer from the Manila Collegian, Lloyd Manango, was arrested by state forces while preparing for a protest near the US embassy. Manango was reportedly nabbed without citing his violation. The police also did not recite Manango’s Miranda rights.
READ: https://bit.ly/39KYj7k
“Hindi ito hiwalay na kaso sa danas ng buong UP system, at ng iba pang progresibong indibidwal o samahan sa ilalim ng termino ni Duterte,” UP POLSCi stressed in their statement.
The organization enjoins the youth to collectively resist the rule of the Marcos-Duterte tandem, and to oppose any attempt to violate the people’s rights.
UP POLSCi concludes, “Sa hanay ng mga progresibong pangkat, patuloy tayong tumindig. Ang kanilang makinarya ay tinutulak ng takot sa ating kolektibong lakas, samantalang ang ating kilusan ay binubuhay ng pag-asa para sa mas maliwanag na bukas.”
UP POLSCi asserts that “activism is not terrorism” while state-aligned trolls and personalities conflate the two to give baseless justifications of state-sponsored harassments and killings of its critics.
The organization asks fellow students and the public to report the malicious post, https://www.facebook.com/100050526907675/posts/558206992540193/?d=n, as false info about politics. They also ask to not engage anymore with the said account.
Featured image by UP Political Society
