Campus Press Under Attack

A number of leaders and members of the campus press all over the country have either been killed or harassed over the past two years and military intelligence and paramilitary elements are being blamed. Student journalists are now asking whether the country is again under martial law at a time when government’s anti-terrorism campaign is being stepped up.

By Alexander Martin Remollino
Bulatlat.com

The martial law era was marked, among others, by a crackdown on the campus press. Editors and reporters of militant student publications, most notably the Philippine Collegian (University of the Philippines in Diliman), Ang Malaya (Philippine College of Commerce now the Polytechnic University of the Philippines), The Dawn (University of the East on C.M. Recto Avenue, Manila), and The Advocate (Far Eastern University), as well as leaders of the College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP) and the League of Editors for a Democratic Society, were arrested. Many of them were tortured and killed.

Today, student journalists are asking whether the country is headed toward a return to the martial law days. This year alone, three of their leaders have reportedly become victims of human rights violations and several others are subjected to harassment, if not outright suppression.

Murder in North Cotabato

Last April 5, Benjaline “Beng" Hernandez, then CEGP vice president for Mindanao and Karapatan-Southern Midanao deputy secretary-general, was in Arakan Valley, North Cotabato. She was conducting research on the situation of lumads and peasants in the area.

Beng and four companions were about to have lunch in a hut when elements of the Citizens Armed Force Geographical Unit allegedly fired at the hut. Beng tried to run, but was caught by the militiamen. Her body, along with those of three of her companions, were later found. Her body bore bruises and bullet wounds all over, and her face was smashed. Her hands were raised, as though she was begging for mercy or trying to protect herself.

The military called the incident “a legitimate encounter with the New People's Army (NPA),” and even told the media of evidence which would prove that Beng was a member of the NPA. In its own investigaton, however, the National Bureau of Investigation in Region XII found Beng's hands to be negative of powder burns. The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) in the region called for an investigation of the paramilitary unit involved in the incident.

Abduction in Cebu City

In Cebu City last Nov. 1, two days after the CEGP National Council meeting, CEGP Vice President for Visayas Loyd Wilson Sato was reportedly abducted by suspected members of the Military Intelligence Group in front of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas along Osmeña Boulevard in Cebu City. Somebody poked a .9 mm pistol at him.

That was not his first brush with the military. Sato, who is also an editor of Southwestern University’s The Quill and a volunteer of the human rights alliance Karapatan, had been harassed last May 15 in front of the Cebu Normal University. He was warned against joining rallies and criticizing the government.

This time Sato was called a “terrorist” and grilled on the activities and whereabouts of CEGP-Cebu chair Yancy Gandiongko and Anakbayan members. He was also blamed for the release of suspected rebel Nestor Lumbab, who had been cleared by the court of criminal charges.

After that, the suspected MIG agents took his cellular phone and the P9,000 he had with him, a CEGP news release said. His left arm was slashed with a pocket knife four times, supposedly to mark it, before he was dropped off at the office of the People's Initiative and Development Center.

Arrest in Bulacan

Last Nov. 13, Ma. Cecilia San Luis, former chair of CEGP-Bulacan and current chair of CEGP-Central Luzon, was arrested along with three others in a house in Sitio Bakbakan, Barangay Sumandig, San Ildefonso, Bulacan. The military claims she is a member of the NPA. She has been charged with rebellion and illegal possession of firearms. She is now detained at the Malolos municipal jail.

Harassment and suppression

Several other cases of harassment and suppression of the campus press have occurred under the Macapagal-Arroyo administration.

During last year’s campaign to abolish the Reserve Officers Training Course (ROTC), editors and reporters of UP-Manila’s Manila Collegian were subjected to harassment, the CEGP also said. The Collegian writers were humiliated in front of ROTC cadets during drills.

At the Polytechnic University of the Philippines in Sta. Mesa, a member of the Student Intelligence Network (SIN), the intelligence component of the ROTC, admitted to editors of The Catalyst that he and other SIN members had broken into their office several times in search of "subversive" documents.

Several student publications all over the country are under or have been subjected to surveillance. Among these are The Tandem (University of Northern Philippines in Vigan City), the Manila Collegian, The Catalyst, and the Philippine Collegian.

In Oriental Mindoro, organizers of the CEGP are included in the order of battle of Col. Jovito Palparan, Jr. Palparan is facing murder charges before the Department of Justice.

Atmosphere of repression

Campus journalists see these attacks as part of a pattern. Together with the branding of at least six schools where activists abound as "high-risk Institutions," repressive policies in the campuses, and the imposition of curfew on minors in Manila, these are seen as part of the creation of a general atmosphere of repression, they said. Bulatlat.com

We want to know what you think of this article.