STAND AGAINST STATE CENSORSHIP AND REPRESSION! PROTECT OUR YOUTH!
by Walden Bello, Amnesty International Philippines’ Most Distinguished Defender of Human Rights Awardee (2023)
All pro-democracy forces must be extremely alarmed by the creeping campaign of intimidation and harassment by Philippine police forces, who are censoring and attacking brave student leaders of the anti-corruption and broader progressive movements.
Three recent developments are especially troubling.
First, the Philippine National Police issued subpoenas against student leaders for their participation in anti-corruption protests on September 21. Among those summoned were Tiffany Brillante, President of the PUP Sentral na Konseho ng Mag-aaral, and Joaquin Buenaflor, Chairperson of the University Student Council of UP Diliman.
Second, the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) and National Security Council co-organized a forum in UST called “Preventing Terror Grooming” which dangerously equated youth activism with terrorism—an open intrusion of the state’s repressive counterinsurgency apparatus into academic spaces.
Third, the PNP Anti-Cybercrime Group moved to censor the student publication Tinig ng Plaridel, after it reported on students burning copies of a PNP subpoena, asking X/Twitter to take down the report under the pretense of “violating Philippine laws.” It is unacceptable to censor protest, and it is worse to censor the reporting of protest.
These incidents lay bare the true loyalty of agents of the state. Amid one of the worst corruption scandals that the country has faced, violence is used against those who protest corruption, not those who partake in it.
We must be vigilant against the creeping rise of authoritarianism and fascism, which begins with the normalization of small acts of police overreach. We cannot discount the chilling effect this has on the crucial exercise of student journalism and democratic participation. I stand in unwavering solidarity with the progressive youth who are fighting for a better future for us all, and call all democratic forces to do the same.