Various groups hailed the historic election of a political prisoner to the University Student Council (USC) at the University of the Philippines-Diliman (UPD) for the first time. Imprisoned for nearly five years, Amanda Echanis won as the top councilor of the UPD USC in the election held on May 15-16.

“I am deeply grateful to everyone who voted and trusted me. We have proven that bars cannot impede the desire to serve the people,” Echanis said upon her victory.

Echanis is a student at the UP College of Arts and Letters, taking up a BA in Creative Writing in Filipino. She ran under the Laban Kabataan Coalition together with the candidates for chairperson, vice chairperson, six other councilors, and representatives from seven colleges. The coalition advocated for a genuine, militant, and nationalist council.

The coalition’s candidate for chairperson and seven councilors won. Its chairperson also garnered more than 6,000 votes, highest since 2000. The coalition’s victory broke the “win” of “abstain” in previous regular UPD USC elections. The coalition also secured many of the candidates in the local college councils.

“The Iskolar ng Bayan (Scholar of the People) stood up because they want a USC that will fight alongside them for increased funding for education, for alternative politics of resistance, for the people, and for genuine student representation,” elected chairperson Joaquin Buenaflor said. He said that the severity of the crisis from the university to the national level compels the youth to fight. “The militant spirit of our struggle will continue,” Buenaflor added.

Meanwhile, Kapatid, a group of relatives and friends of political prisoners, congratulated Echanis on her victory. “In light of this unprecedented achievement in the flagship campus of the UP system, Kapatid urges the government to initiate a non-custodial arrangement for Amanda Echanis, with the UP President or a duly appointed university official acting as a judicially-recognized custodial guarantor,” Kapatid spokesperson Fides Lim said.

She added that such a mechanism would allow Echanis to fulfill her democratically mandated duties as a student leader, while fully respecting the judicial process and ensuring court supervision.

Lim urged the Department of Justice and the courts to recognize Echanis’s unique circumstances and overwhelming student mandate as grounds to explore non-custodial legal remedies such as recognizance or bail.

Lim also acknowledged UP’s extension of its alternative learning system (ALS), which enabled Echanis to continue her studies. “Amanda’s academic record and active participation UP student life prove what is possible when institutions choose inclusivity,” Lim said.

Human rights groups again called to dismiss the case of illegal possession of firearms and explosives, a charge commonly used against activists and organizers. She was arrested on December 2, 2020 in Barangay Carupian, Baggao, Cagayan while caring for her one-month-old child. Echanis is currently detained at the Cagayan Provincial Jail in Tuguegarao City, where she continues her studies online.