N.B. – This was published in Asian Correspondent (March 30, 12:16 a.m.) where I write a weekly column (Philippine Fantasy).
This is not necessarily the political calm before a bigger storm as tensions are now being felt.
The decision of about 60 consultants of the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) to go on leave last March 29 is just the start of more creative protest actions that are expected to happen at various campuses of the University of the Philippines (UP), the country’s national university.
In a March 25 news release, various student councils of UP stressed that they will “step up protest actions even during the different graduation exercises across the UP System this April to demand among many issues the reinstatement of Student Regent (SR) Charisse Bañez and PGH director Jose Gonzales, non-interference in the upcoming selection of a new student regent and the scrapping of fee increase proposals.”
Among the different constituent units, the graduation ceremonies at UP Los Baños (where the ousted SR came from) and UP Diliman (flagship campus where the Office of the UP President is located) are expected to catch the media’s attention.
Commencement exercises at UPLB and UPD are scheduled in the afternoon of April 24 and 25, respectively.
UP was in the news last March 24 as protesting students, faculty and employees barricaded the entrance of Quezon Hall (UP’s administration building) where the Board of Regents (BOR) meeting was supposed to be held. In a statement of Kabataan (Youth) Partylist , the UP protesters reportedly blocked “two UP regents from entering Quezon Hall resulting in a lack of quorum for the BOR meeting.”
Quoting from a March 25 news release of the Katipunan ng mga Sangguniang Mag-aaral sa Unibersidad ng Pilipinas (KASAMA SA UP, loose translation: Assembly of Student Councils at the University of the Philippines), Ana Coritha Desamparado, KASAMA SA UP chairperson and outgoing UP Visayas Cebu College Student Council head, “congratulated participants of the multisectoral, Luzon-wide protest held…in UP Diliman for `successfully thwarting the railroaded approval of policies detrimental to the students and the University as a whole.'”
Desamparo added, “We are confident that the graduates of 2010, the last batch that was spared from the Php1000 tuition, are ready to take part in the protests during their commencement program. This will be their show of solidarity and legacy to the younger Iskolar ng Bayan (scholar of the people).”
For her part, Maristel Suliva, deputy secretary general of the KASAMA SA UP, said, “(T)he March 24 mobilization in UP Diliman serves as a warning against the grave abuse of power of (UP President Emerlinda) Roman and the Malacañang appointees in the BOR. We will not allow a BOR meeting without a student regent.”
Given this context, the UP administration should know what to expect if it decides to re-schedule a BOR meeting before the graduation ceremonies in April.