S.O.S.
July 30, 2003

In a span of two weeks, three student editors of the Today’s CAROLINIAN have been harassed by men claiming to be members of military intelligence. Using false names and refusing to show any proof of identification, these men talked to the student editors and their parents. They asserted that they obtained the names from the Student Affairs Services’ list of top 14 student activists and told the student editors that if they do not stop their activism, their names will be given to big corporations who would then refuse to hire them after college. The men also claimed that the staff of the Today’s CAROLINIAN, as well as other student activists in the university, are under their surveillance.

But if they really were agents of military intelligence, why should they refuse to show their IDs? And if they really were on legitimate errands, then why the need for false names?

Yesterday morning, while students protested against the repressive policies and the oppressive actions of the administration, five unidentified men entered the university. They acquired the names of the rally’s participants from the security guards. One of the men claimed to be a policeman but refused to show any identification. When the protesters started questioning their presence in the university and their purpose for drawing up the list, the men tried to move out of sight. But several students followed them and when the TC’s photographer tried to get a clear shot of the men’s faces, two of them made a grab for his ID and his camera. They also tried to forcibly take the photographer with them.

And while a scuffle ensued between Carolinians and these armed, unidentified men in the lobby, the security guards simply looked on. One of the men even attempted to draw his gun.

Who are these gun-toting men, really? And what are they doing in an institution of higher learning that assures within its hallowed halls a Christian presence characterized by learning in the light of the Catholic faith and the missionary commitment of the Society of the Divine Word?

The too, why did the guards simply stood by, mere spectators in the commotion? Who should the guards in particular and the university in general be protecting in the first place? Unidentified men who show up armed or the students whose money have been keeping this university afloat for years?

And has the university become a big militarized zone overnight where unidentified men carrying firearms could freely enter? At a time and in a place where male Carolinians are subjected to cursory frisking and swiping of metal detectors, why could these armed men come and go as they please? Even worse, why should the guards provide these men with the names of students who, with placards, megaphones, and leaflets, are just airing their grievances against policies they deem unchristian and anti-student? Furthermore, what does this mean? That the university has made it a policy to give out the names of student activists to people who carry guns?

In her last State of the Nation Address, GMA promised the Filipinos a strong republic, a fine stone that she would add to the edifice of our nation. But what has her strong republic wrought? Increased militarization in the countrysides, anti-terrorism campaigns which only result to more violations of the people’s basic rights, shoddy working conditions and inadequate compensations for workers, and the unceasing commercialization of education.

The plight of the University of San Carlos is no different. Under the guise of quality education and “doing what is in the best interests of the students”, what has the administration done? Increased the tuition, implemented a gender-discriminatory dress code that is as burdensome as it is completely unnecessary, padlocked the RCNS (the only existing nationalist library in the Visayas and Mindano), imposed policies like the No Permit, No Rally policy and the new, expensive uniform, and invoked the CJA to encroach into the autonomy of student publications.

GMA’s claim of a strong republic is a folly; the USC administration’s claim of a liberal Christian education is a myth.

For if there is anything that yesterday’s events manifested and if there is anything these blown up pictures show, it is this: the university is no longer a safe place for those who dare to think critically and ask questions.

Yesterday, the guns were silent.

But the guns were there, just the same.

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