
“Is this where the people’s budget goes?” asked KPL Rizal Chairperson Edz Pascual. “Instead of addressing the youth’s problems such as high tuition fees, inadequate facilities, teachers, and a lack of budget for education, [schools] are prioritizing partnerships with the 80th IBPA, who wastes our money in spreading misinformation, threats, and intimidation.”
By JUSTIN UMALI
Bulatlat.com
CABUYAO CITY, Laguna – Students and youth organizations in Rizal province are condemning a series of recent activities conducted by the military which red-tagged activists and progressive youth organizations.
According to Kabataan Partylist Rizal, the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ 80th Infantry Battalion and the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) conducted a series of “leadership seminars” across the province which red-tagged “progressive youth organizations such as Kabataan Partylist.” The seminars are part of the Community Information Awareness Approach Program (CIAAP) of the AFP’s 2nd Infantry Division, and were conducted over the past week.
KPL Rizal noted that these seminars were conducted in the University of Rizal System’s Morong, Cainta, Angono, and Binangonan campuses, and in the Philippine Technological Institute of Science, Artd, and Trade’s (PhilTech) Tanay, Taytay, and Cainta campuses. Public senior high schools under DepEd Rizal also hosted similar seminars.
“Is this where the people’s budget goes?” asked KPL Rizal Chairperson Edz Pascual. “Instead of addressing the youth’s problems such as high tuition fees, inadequate facilities, teachers, and a lack of budget for education, [schools] are prioritizing partnerships with the 80th IBPA, who wastes our money in spreading misinformation, threats, and intimidation.”
According to Tanay Youth Vote (TYV), a coalition of youth organizations in the municipality of Tanay, the 80th IBPA gave out pamphlets which implied that activists in protest actions were actually “recruiters” for the Communist Party of the Philippines during its seminar in PhilTech Tanay, January 17. The speakers during the seminar also claimed that the activist slogan of “arouse, organize, mobilize” was a “strategy” meant to “anger and frighten” the youth into participating in armed struggle against the Philippine government.
“Arouse, Organize, Mobilize” is a phrase used by activists to easily sum-up the tasks of activists in engaging with communities and participating in their struggles.
Following these statements, KPL Rizal stated that the 80th IBPA approached the PhilTech Tanay administration to request the information of TYV’s President, but failed to provide a concrete reason as to why. The group pointed out that this was a violation of the Data Privacy Act of 2012.
According to the law, personal information can only be requested if the subject has given consent, if the information is required to fulfill a contract or legal obligation, or in cases of national emergency and life-or-death situations.
TYV said the military’s CIAAP “undermines students’ rights to participate in peaceful protests and express dissent, tarnishing the very acts that historically secured Filipinos’ rights and freedoms.”
“This program not only warns off students’ democratic rights but also prevents students from thinking critically by instilling deference to authority,” TYV asserted in its statement. “This creates a culture that best serves tyrannical authority and perpetuates the cycle of oppression and violation of Filipinos’ fundamental rights.”
‘Unwelcome presence’
Both KPL Rizal and TYV stressed that the presence of the military in schools was both “unwelcome” and violated the law.
Both groups emphasized that the Philippine constitution defines schools as “zones of peace,” which KPL Rizal said “prohibits the armed military from entering schools or even approaching them and speaking or propagandizing to young people about topics involving war.”
This is not the first time the 80th IBPA entered a campus. In 2024 alone, reports from various youth organizations in Rizal claimed that the 80th IB conducted seminars at least eight times in seven campuses. The 80th IBPA also signed a memorandum of agreement with URS Taytay last May 11 to fully implement the CIAAP.
Outside Rizal, various units under the 2nd IB have also conducted CIAPP seminars across the Southern Tagalog region, all with the stated goal of “providing information about the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army.”
Last January 17, the 202nd Infantry Brigade “appealed” to the Department of Education Calabarzon to “support efforts against the exploitation of the youth, particularly concerning communist recruitment schemes,” recommending policy changes such as linking Parent-Teacher Associations with the group Hands Off Our Children, “information campaigns”, conducting orientation seminars through the National Service Training Program, and “encouraging students to consider careers in the uniformed services.”
The 202nd IBde previously filed a resolution with the Laguna provincial Peace and Order Council requesting their support in the “conduct of national security awareness sessions in the secondary and tertiary schools” last February 2024, which was opposed by KPL and other youth organizations.
‘A threat to life, freedom, and liberty’
The National Union of Students of the Philippines Southern Tagalog also condemned the recent wave of red-tagging seminars, saying that it “risks the safety of the students and brainwash them into thinking that expression of discontent towards the failure and corruption of the government are illegal.”
NUSP ST cited the Supreme Court’s recent decision declaring red-tagging a “threat to life, freedom, and liberty.” Journalist Atom Araullo also recently won a civil suit against red-taggers Lorraine Badoy and Jeffrey Celiz, further cementing the precedent against red-tagging.
The union urged the PhilTech Tanay administration to “reflect on their decision to coordinate with the 80th IB” and is open to a dialogue with the school. Likewise, KPL Rizal stressed that institutions like school administrations, DepEd, and the Commission on Higher Education should “first address the urgent problems and demands of the young students.”
“As institutions aimed at serving the youth, they should prioritize additional funds for facilities and learning materials, support for youth organizations within schools and universities, increased salaries for teachers and staff of school, and academic freedom,” the group stressed in its statement. (RVO)