Various human rights organizations and organizations based at the University of the Philippines (UP) widely condemned the police forces for the violent dispersal of a protest by UP student leaders and detaining them on the spot on August 16 in Tacloban City.

“We are raising grave concern that the violent dispersal curtails the students’ right to peacefully assemble and air their grievances, and may just be the beginning of heightened repression in UP campuses across the country,” Karapatan said.

The police detained 100 students from different UP campuses for two hours for allegedly having no permit. The students were held at the center of Tacloban City until late at night. A student was handcuffed, made to lie prone on the road and stomped on by several policemen.

Apart from this, the state forces also confiscated the protesters’ placards and banners. The students experienced intense intimidation, physical assault and various threats. The police also forcibly took the identity and ID of the rallyists. A delegate fainted because of the stressful situation.

“Just two or three minutes later, the police immediately swarmed around us to drive us away and even chased the comrades. Many tripped, fell and were injured,” Carla Padilla, student leader of UP Los Baños who participated in the action, said.

The UP student leaders highlighted in the protest the issue of suppression of their academic freedom, an end to militarization of UP campuses and the release of political prisoners including the Tacloban 5, some of whom are UP Tacloban students. This is the first youth action in the center of Tacloban City since 2020.

UP student leaders are in Tacloban City for the annual General Assembly of Student Councils. The councils were united in this gathering for the campaign to promote the rights of students and to highlight civic issues. It will also be a meeting to select the UP student regent who will represent them on the Board of Regents.

The Romualdez rules Tacloban City. Alfred Romualdez, full cousin of Ferdinand Marcos Jr, sits as the city mayor.

The attack on the UP student leaders comes a few days after the UP administration and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) signed on August 8 a “declaration of cooperation” to allow cooperation between the two institutions. The groups saw it as an attack on academic freedom.