Students from the Bestlink College of the Philippines (BCP), a private school in Barangay Santa Monica, Novaliches, Quezon City, launched anew a protest on January 30 to denounce the school’s anti-student and oppressive policies. The latest in its series of oppressive programs is the BCP’s huge failure in the school anniversary celebration on January 26 in Bataan.

Anakbayan-BCP and its students called the celebration day #BCPTortureDay. “Instead of entertaining the students, it tortured and inconvenienced not only the students but also the teachers, staff, parents, and residents who live near the resort,” the group stated.

It added that the celebration was considered a “project” and required all students to attend to be graded. Students were charged ₱900 for transportation and “entrance fees” at the venue of the celebration. The group said this did not include food, so the students had to bring or buy their own food to relieve hunger.

The beginning of the day alone already exposed the failure of the activity. Students waited four to five hours for the delayed arrival of the school buses. The students also walked 3-4 kilometers after getting off the bus to get to the resort. The students arrived there in the open and crowded under the sun.

“Many of the students were hungry, tired, and lacked sleep so they chose to lie on the ground and buy very expensive food and water,” Anakbayan-BCP complained. They also suffered the same incident at the end of the day, returning home very late at night which worried their families.

Instead of admitting fault, the BCP leadership issued a statement of deceit on January 29. “This official statement absolved them of their culpability in organizing the off-campus event. And instead of addresing the grievances of the students, they marked as fake and fabricated the proliferating evidence of what happened on January 26,” Anakbayan-BCP vehemently stated.

The group also denounced “profiling” or listing the names of students who complained about what they suffered.” This is a clear manifestation of the anti-democratic university that prevents students from expressing themselves and participating in the development of a better school system,” the group said.

Anakbayan-BCP demanded the BCP immediately act on the suffering caused by the incompetent organizing of the celebration in Bataan and past issues. They said, someone should be held accountable for the heaps of torture in that incident.

It can be recalled that there was also an issue of unfair implementation of “no full payment, no full exams” at the school in December 2024. These campaigns resulted in the formation and establishment of the Anakbayan-BCP chapter in the school.