Subverting Subversion
kudos to Maria Theresa Pangilinan, student council president of the Cavite State University, for exemplifying what our new grads really think of president arroyo and her godforsaken regime.despite super efforts to hide it, president arroyo was visibly pissed and will probably think a zillion times before accepting another invitation to speak in any graduation rite. her chief of staff mike defensor was, of course, on the defensive. he had the gall to invoke his 'student activist' days, that they had 'more decorum' then. crap, crap, and more crap. he even mentioned former UP student regent jerry barican's similar protest in his graduation rites during marcos' martial law days. no surprise there. barican after all seems to be his, ehem, 'idol'.
according to defensor: "What Barican spoke out against was martial law. This is just Charter change-it's a different issue which could have been conducted in a different place and different time." if he truly believes this, he was not much of a student activist at all.
i am posting the editorial article i wrote for the debut issue of NOYPI (News Outlet of the Young Pinoy), timely ngayong panahon ng mga graduation marches. at sa mga susunod pang graduation marches, notwithstanding defensors and baricans and other former student activists who have acquired a twisted sense of 'decorum' through the years.
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Subverting Subversion
Last weekend March 31, Cris Hugo, a 20-year-old student activist, was brought to his final resting place.
He was supposed to have graduated with a degree in journalism at the Bicol University this March. But march he did not. He was assassinated last March 19 in Bagumbayan, Albay as he walked home with his professor-friend from an outing.
At the time of his death, Hugo was the newly-elected Grand Chancellor of the Alpha Phi Omega Fraternity chapter in BU. He was also a National Council member and regional coordinator of the League of Filipino Students, a student group popular for being critically vocal of the Arroyo government. LFS, incidentally, is one of the numerous groups tagged by the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Arroyo government as a communist front organization.
Ironically, a day after, Major General Jovito Palparan was decorated anew with the Distinguished Service Star for his ?exemplary performance? in the military. Numerous accolades were lavishly thrown at him by no less than President Arroyo herself, particularly for his latest stint in the Samar regions. Palparan?s major achievement ? he took command over a methodical and ruthless liquidation campaign of activist leaders, members and sympathizers of progressive organizations and party-list groups.
The death of Hugo earned the ire not only of his comrades but even of ordinary citizens who would not accept any justification that he deserved to be silenced simply for his convictions. The police and military were quick to divert allegations that Hugo?s death was an addition to the countless cases of extra-judicial killings under the Arroyo administration. They insinuated frat-related violence. They even later suggested that Hugo?s fellow LFS members were responsible for the murder, an idea so preposterous to his fellow activists that they did not bother at all to engage it.
It does not make it less preposterous that the AFP and the government actually believed that the public would accept such insinuations. It could not be less obvious who the culprits in the killings are. We, after all, have a government which honors and promotes officers like Palparan, while on the other hand consistently turning a deaf ear on numerous accusations of human rights violations hurled at him.
As Hugo?s death caused considerable alarm to civil libertarians and concerned citizens in the country and internationally, the government continues to appear nonchalant and unaffected. Countering accusations with childish impertinence ? that the death of Hugo and 34 others killed within this year were purely incidental, ?Why are they always quick to lay the blame on us??
The way we see it, the government?s casual indifference is a clear indication of the cold-bloodedness imperative for it to even concoct, much less implement, a campaign as shadowy as ?enemy annihilation.? We are impelled to ask the question of who dictates who the so-called enemies of the state are. What threat does a bright-eyed youth like Hugo pose to this government that he deserved to be silenced by an iron-fisted regime?
We now find ourselves in danger of being politically persecuted, gagged, stripped of our freedom of speech and killed for exercising our right to dissent in perfectly legitimate arenas. Progressives and so-called leftists are denied democratic space. Journalists are gagged, kept under close watch Civil libertarians are tagged destabilizers. Under her very own chain of command, President Arroyo went so far as to announce to newly-graduated military and police officers that they are only mandated to do as they are told, shut up or risk being court-martialed.
The way we see it, these do not water down rebellion at all. It is an open invitation to insurgency, a challenge to defend democracy when a government is continuously, against all odds, denying it.
If they persist, so shall thousands like Hugo in schools, universities, urban poor communities, in the impoverished countryside, and even in impressionable ranks in the AFP.
President Arroyo will have to reconcile and accept foolproof lessons in history ? it will take more than an iron fist for the youth to desist. ###
posted by adarna @ 12:05 PM
10 Comments:
for the record... Hindi ako PRO-GMA
maraming humanga kay theresa sa ginawa nya... true, napakatapang ng ginawa nya, at personally humahanga ako sa ipinakita niyang katapangan.
pero sana ginawa na lang nya ito sa ibang lugar...
espesyal na araw ang Graduation sa lahat ng mga estudyante. at siguro ko, kahit sino sa atin ay magagalit kung masisira ang espesyal nating araw. RESPETO NA LANG SA GRADUATION DAY.
pucha kung sa graduation ko andun si GMA, sira na agad ang graduation day.
ang makakapagsagip na lang nun, mga katulad ni Ma Theresa na matapang na humarap at nagprotesta.
galing!
Ruth de Leon:
Pakipaabot kay Theresa Pangilinan ang aking
militanteng pagbati sa kanyang katapangang harapin ang
salot ng mamamayang pilipino!
Hwag niyang pansinin ang mga sinasabi ng ilan na
bastos ang ginawa niya dahil wala nang kasingbastos pa
sa bansa kundi si GMA: binastos niya ang boto ng mga
pilipino sa kanyang pandaraya, binastos niya ang
karapatan ng tao sa pagpatay ng kanyang rehimen sa mga
lider at myembro ng mga people's orgs at progressive
party lists, binastos niya ang mga responsibilidad ng
isang pangulo sa kanyang corruption and misrule.
The action of Theresa Pangilinan shows respect for the
people and the victims of this corrupt and repressive
Arroyo regime. that is why I have so much respect for
Theresa Pangilinan.
Ruth
?Tama lang yun. Binastos din naman ni GMA ang boto ng
mga Pilipino?.
-- Reply of a member of the crowd at the graduation
rites (as reported by Inquirer) to the remark of the
police superintendent who said it was "pambabastos",
referring to the brave act of Maria Theresa
Pangilinan, a mass communications graduate of Cavite
State University, who shouted ?Patalsikin si Gloria?
at GMA herself while unfolding a ?No to Chacha?
banner.
Sa totoo lang, hindi lang ang mga boto ng mga Pilipino
ang binabastos ni Gloria. Mahaba ang listahan, too
long to list here. Baka ma-exceed natin ang maximum
limit ng isang yahoo email.
i know that we have the freedom of expression but for me what pangilinan did is stil a "kabastusan"....
sinira nya pangalan ng school na pinanggalingan nya...
sna naman kung ayaw nya kay PGMA di na lang xa umattend ng graduati0n...
i agree with defensor when he said that protest should be done in the right time and right place...on the other hand,, i don't believe that the officials of the Cavite State University should be blame for what happened...i think,, hindi naman nila ginust0 n mphiya ang sarili nilang school...
i also have a feeling na yang si pangilinan,, ngpapansin lng...xmpre pag napnsin sya ng press pde xang mabigyan ng trabah0...(especially ung mga anti-GMA)
h0nestly, i als0 d0n't like PGMA but i kn0w GOD has plans for us...and 1 0f His plans is to put GMA in the highest position, being the prsident of 0ur c0untrY...
To Maria Theresa Pangilinan: Mabuhay ka! I personally salute your courage and conviction.
I don't agree that what Ms. Pangilinan did was "pambabastos." Si Gloria ang nambabastos, nambababoy, at nangiinsulto sa ating lahat. Ms Pangilinan merely stood up to a lying, thieving bully and proclaimed that she will not put up with more lies and pambabastos from Gloria.
National Union of Students of the Philippines
CAVITE CHAPTER
Walang anumang pagsisisi. Dapat bumaba sa poder si
Gng. Arroyo.
Matapos ang lantarang panawagan ng mga mag-aaral
at iba pang sector upang pababain si Gng. Arroyo
sa gitna ng kanyang talumpati sa programa ng
pagtatapos sa Cavite State University (CvSU) noong
ika-21 ng Abril, walang anumang pagsisisi ang
nadarama ng mga kabataang sumama sa pagkilos.
Ang ginawang hakbang ng mga kabataan noong ika-21
ng Abril ay isang pampulitikang pagpapahayag na
maging ang mga kabataan ay nananawagan sa
pagpapapababa kay Gng. Arroyo sa pagkapangulo.
Naniniwala rin ang mga kabataan na kung sa
pakiramdam ni Gng. Arroyo na siya ay nabastos,
hindi ba?t higit na pambabastos ang ginagawa niya
sa buong mamamayang Pilipino sa pagtalikod sa mga
kagyat na kahilingan ng mga mamamayan.
Gayundin ang mga kabataan ng CvSU ay malaon nang
nagtitiis sa papataas na halaga ng matrikula,
pagkaltas sa badyet, pagbabayad ng mga kung
anu-anong bayarin tulad ng P1 sa tuwing pagpasok
sa C.R., at panunupil sa loob ng kampus.
Aming hinahamon si Gng. Arroyo na kung sinsero
siyang tulungan ang mga kabataan, hindi lamang
dapat sa CvSU lamang ang bigyan nito ng P50M
bilang dagdag na pondo kundi dapat na itaas nito
ang badyet sa edukasyon, pigilan ang pagtataas ng
matrikula, at tugunin ang mga kahilingan ng iba
pang sektor.
Matapos ang mga kaganapan, halatang natitigatig na
administrasyon ni Arroyo dahil napatunayan ng mga
kabataan sa lalawigan na hindi lamang sa Maynila
nagaganap ang mga panawagang pagpapartalsik sa
kanya. At patunay na seryoso ang lahat ng sector
na nananawagan sa kanyang pagpapatalsik na saan
man siya magtungo sa anumang pagkakataon,
sasalubungin siya ng protesta ng mga mamamayan.
#
Ma. Teresa Pangilinan
Vice chairperson
NUSP ? Southern Tagalog
Coordinator
NUSP ? Cavite
from: Bulletin Friendster account
______________________________________
sa mga nangyari pinatunayan lamang ng hindi n22log ang boses ng mga kabataan....
National Union of Students of the Philippines
CAVITE CHAPTER
Walang anumang pagsisisi. Dapat bumaba sa poder si
Gng. Arroyo.
Matapos ang lantarang panawagan ng mga mag-aaral
at iba pang sector upang pababain si Gng. Arroyo
sa gitna ng kanyang talumpati sa programa ng
pagtatapos sa Cavite State University (CvSU) noong
ika-21 ng Abril, walang anumang pagsisisi ang
nadarama ng mga kabataang sumama sa pagkilos.
Ang ginawang hakbang ng mga kabataan noong ika-21
ng Abril ay isang pampulitikang pagpapahayag na
maging ang mga kabataan ay nananawagan sa
pagpapapababa kay Gng. Arroyo sa pagkapangulo.
Naniniwala rin ang mga kabataan na kung sa
pakiramdam ni Gng. Arroyo na siya ay nabastos,
hindi ba?t higit na pambabastos ang ginagawa niya
sa buong mamamayang Pilipino sa pagtalikod sa mga
kagyat na kahilingan ng mga mamamayan.
Gayundin ang mga kabataan ng CvSU ay malaon nang
nagtitiis sa papataas na halaga ng matrikula,
pagkaltas sa badyet, pagbabayad ng mga kung
anu-anong bayarin tulad ng P1 sa tuwing pagpasok
sa C.R., at panunupil sa loob ng kampus.
Aming hinahamon si Gng. Arroyo na kung sinsero
siyang tulungan ang mga kabataan, hindi lamang
dapat sa CvSU lamang ang bigyan nito ng P50M
bilang dagdag na pondo kundi dapat na itaas nito
ang badyet sa edukasyon, pigilan ang pagtataas ng
matrikula, at tugunin ang mga kahilingan ng iba
pang sektor.
Matapos ang mga kaganapan, halatang natitigatig na
administrasyon ni Arroyo dahil napatunayan ng mga
kabataan sa lalawigan na hindi lamang sa Maynila
nagaganap ang mga panawagang pagpapartalsik sa
kanya. At patunay na seryoso ang lahat ng sector
na nananawagan sa kanyang pagpapatalsik na saan
man siya magtungo sa anumang pagkakataon,
sasalubungin siya ng protesta ng mga mamamayan.
#
Ma. Teresa Pangilinan
Vice chairperson
NUSP ? Southern Tagalog
Coordinator
NUSP ? Cavite
from: STExposure
=====================================
bihira ang tulad ni tere na iri-risk yung diploma nya 2 air the grievances of the cvsu students...
FRANKLY, if I was part of the graduates that day, I would impulsively throw eggs at PGMA or raise my voice against her in protest. Believe me, I AM anti-GMA but using the graduation as protest ground -- what were they thinking? Graduation is a solemn event.. Though I commend Ms. Teresa Pangilinan's bravery, I think she should not have done it then and there. She should have waited a while and did the protest outside.
Better yet, someone should have shot the president. Sheesh. (please, I am not the slightest bit sarcastic. Someone SHOULD have shot her, seriously)
Isang militanteng pagbati sa inyo, bago lang ako dito, at natututwa ako makita ang blog site na ito.:)
Bueno, gusto ko lang sabihin na kung may patalim lang ako or baril at andun ako sa graduation na yun baka patay na si Gloria.:) Agree ako dun kay Anonymous na sana nga binaril na lang.
Nakangiti kong kakalabitin ang gatilyo ng baril habang excited na hihintayin ang mga babaril din sakin:) hehe. assassination.:)
Bueno, isang nakataas na kamao para sa iyo theresa Pangilinan!!!
Isa kang ehemplo para sa mga kabataan. Ipakita natin na kahit saang lungga magtago o pumunta ang mga alagad ng pagsasamantala at pang-aapi ay walang takot silang haharapin ng mga kabataang tulad ni Theresa Pangilinan!
Kaya para sa mga kabataan, magkaisa at makiisa... tugunin ang tawag ng kasaysayan! HIMAGSIKAN!!!
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