Read in: Bisaya

While it’s a fact, as can be gleaned from various news archival and anecdotal sources, that a number of University of the Philippines (UP) students and alumni have hitherto joined the ranks of armed revolutionaries and in the process many of them sacrificed their very lives and became martyrs of people’s democratic revolution.

But to faultily proclaim like what Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana has been doing to justify its unilateral decision to junk the 32-year old DND-UP Accord that on that account the entire university itself is a breeding ground for CPP-NPA is not only malicious but also utterly dangerous.

It’s tantamount to “poisoning the well” and a form of sweeping red tagging to pre-condition the public of the impending military takeover and control of the UP system. This is a threat to the academic freedom and the democratic rights of UP students and faculty known for their fiery activism and participation in people’s issues and concerns.

UP’s liberal educational set-up that put emphasis on critical mindedness and social involvement might have contributed in the formation of individual’s Iskolar ng Bayan (Isko/Iska) socio-political awareness and commitment. But the decision to partake in the armed struggle and become a people’s warrior are theirs alone to make.

In many critical junctures of our country’s history, many intellectual youth including those who hailed from UP have trudged the path of armed revolution to radically alter and reconstitute the rotten semi-colonial and semi-feudal ruling system to pave the way towards a bright socialist future.

This includes our beloved Rachelle Mae Palang (1986-2008) who chose to leave the comfort of city life to be with the peasant masses of Southeast Negros and served them wholeheartly by enlisting in the people’s army. Her martyrdom in the hands of the bloodthristy fascists almost 13 years ago only fueled further the revolutionary fervor of the youth and the people to advance the revolution.

It’s just to rebel in the face of immense conditions of oppression and exploitation. It’s the collective obligation of the youth and the people to topple a tyrannical regime like that of Duterte.

It’s also noteworthy to mention that the number of Isko/Iska who become armed revolutionaries pale in comparison to those who have joined the reactionary government, private corporations, legal profession or even the military/police establishment. For Lorenzana to cherry pick some data and juxtapose this as some sort of evidence of UP being the seedbed for armed communist revolutionaries is pathetic and deplorable.

The revolutionary youths of Southeast Negros join the UP communities across the country in condemning this latest dastardly fascist act of the US-Duterte regime to repress and militarize UP. Together we will frustrate and defeat this diabological scheme. ###