Students of the University of San Carlos (USC) in Cebu condemned the university’s administration after it allowed the dictator’s daughter Imee Marcos to enter the USC Downtown Campus in Cebu City on April 26 to be part of a program to distribute aid from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). “She is not welcome in a university that fought for the democracy that was suppressed by their regime [during the dictatorship],” USC progressive organizations said.

Marcos went to the Anselmo Bustos Gym to distribute DSWD aid, but according to the groups, her presence was not necessary to hand out cash. “This presence of Marcos is a clear maneuver to gather support in the upcoming midterm elections in 2025,” they said. Marcos has not yet declared her intention to run in the upcoming elections but her senatorial term will end in 2025.

Further on, they said what happened to USC and its community members under the bloody and dark history of the martial law of Imee’s dictator father, Ferdinand Marcos Sr was tragic. Publications, councils and organizations at USC, and at universities and colleges across the country, were shut down during martial law. “Until now, many Carolinos commemorate Martial Law to condemn the Marcos regime for its gross human rights abuses,” according to the groups’ statement.

They said that the USC administration giving Marcos a platform is a blatant rejection of the history of the Carolinos where thousands of students and members of its community led the overthrow of the Marcos dictatorship.

“We, as Carolinos, express our collective opposition to the entry of Imee Marcos into our university,” the statement concluded. The joint statement was signed by the Student Alliance for Nationalism and Democracy-USC, Gabriela Youth-USC, Rise for Education-USC, Kabataan Partylist-USC and Anakbayan-USC.