MANILA, Philippines — UP Visayas students, who drew online harassment for a cheer routine criticizing President Rodrigo Duterte's policies, might just be emulating the chief executive, presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo.
A video of a group of UP Visayas students called Skimmers, an academic organization composed of BA Communication and Media Studies and BA Literature students, went viral over the weekend.
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A 29-second clip showed the students calling Duterte "
tuta" or a "puppy" of China and later on chanted "Let's kill this president
charot!" inspired by Korean girl group BLACKPINK's "Kill This Love."
WATCH TILL THE END.
????????????
— Karl (@kbomolina) October 18, 2019
pic.twitter.com/Iqmlag7Wf1
Panelo, in a televised press conference, pointed out that the chant against the president was just a joke.
"Obviously, they were joking. It's a free country. They can dish out jokes, criticisms," Panelo said.
The
Malacañang mouthpiece also suggested that the students were just mimicking Duterte, who said he had previously killed in the past.
The president had also previously ordered the police to kill drug suspects, the latest of which is an order for
police official Lt. Col.
Jovie
Espenido to “kill everybody” in Bacolod City.
READ: 'I killed because I felt she wanted it,' Duterte says at Arroyo testimonial dinner
"Joke
naman
pala. Si
presidente 'di
ba
nagsabi na
siya
ng 'kill.'
Baka
ginagaya
lang
nila si
presidente," Panelo said.
(It was just a joke. The president also said 'kill' before. Maybe they were
just imitating the president.)
Asked about Duterte supporters harassing and
redtagging the UP Visayas students, Panelo said it was just a "natural reaction" for them.
"That's
very natural reaction for supporters of the president... It's a free country. They can react, too," Panelo said.
UP Visayas, meanwhile, condemned the threats and harassment hurled against its students.
The university stressed that the annual cheering competition contained satirical commentaries on current national issues "all in the spirit of fun, understanding and camaraderie."
"We remind them to exercise prudence in their actions, thus, we denounce all forms of threats and harassment hurled against them," UP Visayas said.
In the cheer routine, the Skimmers tackled national issues, including the West Philippine Sea, Rice
Tarrification Law, the CHED memorandum to remove Filipino and
Panitikan as core subjects in college and the government's proposal for mandatory ROTC.
"In UP Visayas, we encourage our students to think critically and allow them to exercise their freedom of expression," the statement read. — Patricia Lourdes Viray