The National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP) strongly condemned the harassment and red-tagging against the Mindanao State University Main Campus Supreme Student Government (MSU-Main SSG) after it posted a statement marking the EDSA Uprising anniversary on February 24. Along with its brief message urging students to commemorate the uprising, the council released a graphic showing the faces of the Marcoses (Imelda, Ferdinand Sr, and Ferdinand Jr) and the Dutertes (Rodrigo and Sara) with the words “Never Forget.”

Duterte supporters swarmed the post, hurling baseless accusations and slurs, tagging the council as “NPA,” “kakampink,” “stupid,” and the post as “politicking.” Others urged commemorating only on “history” without connecting it to current national issues. Some insisted that the Dutertes had “nothing to do with martial law,” ignoring their 2022 alliance with the Marcoses to secure Sara Duterte’s vice-presidential win.

The NUSP stressed the shared legacy of both ruling families. “Let us not forget that in the past years, the Marcoses and Dutertes are quick to collaborate in serving their own interests,” it said.

According to the union of student councils, both clans are complicit in massive corruption, plunder, and widespread human rights violations. “Denying these truths is ahistorical,” it asserted. It added that forcing the student council to be “neutral” only serves the oppressors.

“As the highest representation of the student body, student councils have the mandate of uniting and mobilizing their fellow students on issues inside and outside the university,” the NUSP said. The organization urged more student councils to follow MSU’s courage and reject the lie that activist youths are merely “brainwashed.”

“The youth are not brainwashed. We are not terrorists. In truth, this is our duty as the youth, as the hope of the nation,” the NUSP declared.