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MANILA, Philippines – A group supporting President Rodrigo Duterte and his administration has criticized the “unfair” treatment its members received from the University of the Philippines (UP) after they were not allowed to hold a demonstration inside the Diliman campus.
According to Pep Goita, general secretary of the Liga Independencia Pilipinas – which has criticized progressive student groups for allegedly having ties to the communist movement – said that they were not informed that they had to obtain a permit just to mount a peaceful program at UP Diliman. .
They believe that they should have been given equal access to the university, as progressive groups have been allowed to organize demonstrations.
“We were not allowed to organize a program even in this shed, make a prayer candle, a prayer rally with candles, instead, they only allowed us from CP García (Avenida) to the Wall of Freedom,” Goita said, speaking in Tagalog. reporters on Thursday.
“So this just means that only progressive militant groups like LFS, Anakbayan and other groups can do programs at this university that is being funded by the government,” he added.
The Liga Independencia Pilipinas and other groups allied with them such as the League of Parents of the Philippines have planned to hold protests against the proposed academic strikes, which would be in protest against the government.
Students at the Ateneo de Manila recently raised the idea of an academic strike, where students would stop going or, in the case of distance learning due to COVID-19, stop attending classes due to government incompetence.
They were referring to the slow response of the Duterte administration during the recent typhoon onslaught, Typhoon Quinta, Super Typhoon Rolly and Typhoon Ulysses, which caused massive destruction and flooding in various parts of Luzon.
President Duterte, during his speech on Tuesday, erroneously attributed the calls for an academic strike to the UP when it was the Athenaeum who raised the idea.
Even before the Goita group’s protest, the UP’s Office of the Vice President of Public Affairs was offended by the red label that the country’s leading university received. The bureau insisted that the UP is not a recruiting ground for communists, but only values academic freedom.
For his part, Goita said that they will inform the government about the experience.
“We would inform our (contacts) in government about why we were not allowed to enter so that people would really know the true colors of UP. It is so unfair, this is a public university, it is not a private university like the Athenaeum where we could not do anything if they do not let us enter, ”he said.
“But they allow the militant groups to make protests, just look at the oblation, it is littered with various streamers and posters of progressive groups and student councils,” he added.
Goita also asked the students to stop harboring revolutionary ideas. But just in August, other supporters of the Duterte administration lobbied for a revolutionary government to accelerate the switch to a federalist government.
“We call on the youth to exercise sobriety and discernment, think that if what you are doing is right or wrong, we will call on the youth to abandon incitement to revolutionary ideas, stop inciting people to ideology revolutionary and instead continue your education ”, explained.
“Let’s not believe in those communist terrorist groups and progressive organizations and student councils. Nothing good will come of it. We congratulate President Rodrigo Roa Duterte and his cabinet for serving the needs of those affected by the pandemic and recent calamities, ”he said.[ac]
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