UP faculty, students, staff: Campus no place for early Marcos campaign

MANILA, Philippines — Some members of the University of the Philippines Diliman community are seeking assurance that the campus will not be used to further what it called Marcos propaganda.

Professor Sarah Raymundo of the UP Center for International Studies was quoted by Tinig ng Plaridel—the official student publication of UP College of Mass Communication—as saying: “Isa sa mga demands ng alliance ay mabigyan ng kasiguruhan na hindi magkakaroon ng events dito sa UP na nagpo-promote ng election campaign ng Marcoses.”

(One of the demands of the alliance is to be given the assurance that events that would promote the election campaign of the Marcoses will be banned from UP grounds.)

Imee Marcos was KB national chairperson

Raymundo and other UP professors and students held a press conference on Wednesday afternoon in reaction to the Kabataang Barangay reunion held at the UP Bahay ng Alumni on August 25.

UP, and the Diliman campus, was home to the many activists and opposition figures who led protests against the martial law and ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos, daughter of the late strongman, was the guest of honor at the event. Her father appointed her KB national chair in 1975. She is also a prospective candidate for senator under the administration slate. 

UP president Danilo Concepcion, a former member of the KB, was seen attending the event and was photographed sporting the Marcos “V” sign. He has already sent his “deep regrets” for the “pain” brought about by his attending the event.

READ: UP president on appearance at Marcos event: 'Tao lang po!'

But representatives of the UP community said that Concepcion, who was the president of the KB Federation Metro Manila chapter from 1976 to 1978, should “rectify his mistake.”

Felix Pariñas of All UP Workers Unity said that Concepcion should join the UP community mobilization on September 21 to condemn martial  law and the Marcoses’ historical revisionism.

Marcos signed Proclamation No. 1081 on September 21, 1972, placing the entire Philippines under martial law.

Despite documented abuses and killings in the martial law years, some now say that only troublemakers and communists were jailed or tortured or made to disappear during those years. 

Professor and former Social Welfare chief Judy Taguiwalo also stressed that the UP community “must stay true to its history of resisting fascist dictatorship. We say ‘never forget.’”

Gov. Marcos was also in the news last week for claiming that millennials—a term now loosely used to refer to the youth—had "moved" on from the martial law years and from Marcos' more than 20 years in power.

Youth groups were quick to dispute the claim.

On Thursday, Nickolo Domingo of Anakbayan UPD disputed the claim anew.

"[A]lam ng mga kabataan na ang mukha ng martial law ay ang pag-apak sa karapatang pantao ng mga Pilipino. Ito’y mukha ng korapsyon, kagutuman, at kahirapan," he said.

(The youth know that the face of martial law is the trampling of Filipinos' human rights. It is the face of corruption, hunger and poverty)

Almira Abril of STAND UP, meanwhile said: "Imee Marcos, pumunta ka dito sa UP at harapin mo ang mga studyante. Tanungin mo kung nakapag-'move on' na ba ang kabataan sa Martial Law."

(Imee Marcos, come to UP and face the students. Ask them if they have 'moved on' from Martial Law.)

What ‘academic freedom?’

After the UP administration drew flak from the event, UP vice president Butch Dalisay said in an ABS-CBN report that he can only presume that proper representations were made and dues were paid for the event to be held at the Bahay ng Alumni.

“As a public university, UP is open to the expression of all political beliefs and persuasions,” Dalisay said.

But Raymundo said that it seemed like Dalisay seemed to have confused “fascism” with academic freedom.

Sociology professor Gerry Lanuza also pointed out the irony that during the martial law—regime of the late dictator Marcos—there was no academic freedom in UP, as student councils and publications were banned.

“UP officials rubbed salt on the wounds of the families of martial law victims by allowing Kabataan Barangay members and Imee Marcos to hold a reunion at the UP Bahay ng Alumni,” Taguiwalo also said.

READ: Youth groups to Marcos: We haven't moved on

Martial law saw around 70,000 people detained, about 34,000 people tortured, about 3,240 victims of “salvaging,” about 398 enforced disappearances, according to an infographic released by the Official Gazette.

Student activist Archimedes Trajano is one of the victims under the Marcos' rule. He questioned Imee’s appointment as KB national chair in an open forum in 1977.

Witnesses said that Imee’s guards forcibly took the 21-year-old student out of the venue. Trajano’s lifeless body, bearing signs of severe torture, was found days later in Manila. —  Kristine Joy Patag