Harassment of students in Ifugao

 BEHIND THE SCENES

Alfred P. Dizon

(We print hereunder a letter of CIelo Marie Bayson of Kabataan Patrylist Cordillera on alleged harassment of students by the military in Ifugao. Those who are alluded to may send their response through our email: northphiltimes@yahoo.com which we could print in this corner.)

           

Recently, the House of Representatives began its investigation about the cases of harassments reported by students of the Ifugao State University.

           

Last year, the Kabataan Partylist Cordillera received reports that in the said university, a number of the scholars of KABATAAN Partylist have been consistently threatened by alleged intelligence agents of the military.

           

Scholars were threatened and blacklisted because they were tagged by the certain agents as “NPA scholars” and that they would never be able to find a job when they graduate. As a result one scholar almost dropped out of the scholarship out of fear for his future.

           

Same is true for the rest of the grantees of progressive people’s partylists and progressive student organizations in schools all over the Cordillera. Every time the school year starts, various venues inside the schools have been used by the AFP to villify these organizations and scholars by saying that they are fronts of the New People’s Army.

           

As we contemplate and analyze this, we will not really be surprised if elements of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and their paramilitary groups are behind these accusations through their Oplan Bayanihan Program.

           

In our experience, the progressive organizations who struggled for the students and people’s rights and welfare, are always branded as leftists and fronts of the NPA and Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). The red-tagging of most progressive organizations escalated when the Oplans or the counter-insurgency programs of the Philippine Government were implemented.

           

Worst, these progressive and so-called “leftist” organizations  suffered great losses when some of their members and leaders were tortured, abducted or summarily executed because of these Oplans.

           

While we commend the effort of Congress to deliberate about this case, we strongly condemn the Armed Forces of the Philippines which has every motive to conduct these harassments on progressive, legal organizations that they perceive to threaten the status quo where they benefit.

           

With its platform that promotes the interests and rights of the people, particularly the youth’s right to education and employment, the KabataanPartylist is being tagged as an enemy of the state.

           

As we welcome a new school year, we ought to continue our vigilance regarding the prevalence of such incidents not just in Ifugao but all over the Cordillera region.  With the continuing crisis in the Philippine society, as manifested by the continuing price hikes, increasing rates of poverty and lack of a systematic plan of the government to address such concerns, it is expected that the Filipino people, most of them coming from the youth and students will launch series of protest actions that will clamor raise demands and clamor against the current order.

           

As a response and as a show of their alarm, the government resorts to vilifying the progressive elements that lead such movements. In a desperate attempt to save face, it harasses and threatens the security of those who are merely fed up of the existing dire condition of the society.

           

Oplan Bayanihan is not different from the earlier Oplans of previous regimes, prominent of which are Oplan Bayanihan I and II. Its main objective is to maintain the status quo of the ruling classes and the control of imperialist countries, most especially US, in our country.

           

Therefore, they will do everything in their power to prevent progressive organizations, from educating, organizing and mobilizing the Filipino people in fighting for their democratic rights.

           

Through Oplan Bayanihan, the Filipino people, including the Cordillerans, are being deceived by the AFP through their Peace and Development Program. They try to gain the people’s support and sympathy by giving socio-economic projects to the point of deploying units to dig cannals, clean wastes, paint barangay halls, etc.

           

While doing these, they recruit civilians from various sectors and places for non-combat military operations known as Civilian Military Operations (CMO). The CMO is being used to demonize progressive organizations.

           

The objectives of these are to create people’s mistrust on the progressive organizations who are selflessly and genuinely fighting for the people’s democratic rights and to justify the AFP’s actions in torturing, abducting and executing its members.

           

In sum, it aims to subtly hinder the outburst of an organized social rage that would spark the genuine social change long-hoped for by most of the Filipinos who are mired in poverty and dire living conditions.