Progressive group BAYAN-Southern Mindanao condemned the planned construction of a US military oil depot in the Davao Region due to grave threats to national security and further militarization.

This follows the public announcement by the Defense Logistics Agency, a combat support agency of the US government, requesting that private contractors bid on the Defense Fuel Support Point project along the western coast of Davao Gulf, which includes Davao City and parts of Davao del Sur.

With plans to construct a minimum of four tanks in the planned oil depot, construction is set to begin on April 12, 2028, and continue until October 11, 2031.

The fueling depot will house 41 million gallons of naval and aviation fuel, enough to fill over 1200 standard gasoline stations, as stated in its performance work statement. This would serve as an alternative refueling base for the US military, away from the Subic ports facing the West Philippine Sea, to avoid potential conflict with China, the US Naval Institute News said.

Under Article III, Section 1 of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, US forces and contractors may conduct activities, including aircraft refueling and temporary vehicle maintenance, at approved locations.

BAYAN-Southern Mindanao warned that the oil depot would increase US military presence in the Philippines and further expose the country to crossfire from geopolitical tensions between global superpowers.

“Tanang aspects ata sa atong territorial integrity nakompromiso. Una katong aggression sa China sa West Philippine Sea… On the other hand, naa pud ang US, nagapanghilabot sa political and military affairs sa atong nasod via the lopsided and unequal treaties and agreements,” BAYAN Secretariat member Rauf Sissay said.

(All aspects of our territorial integrity have been compromised. First, the aggression of China in the West Philippine Sea. On the other hand, the US also intervenes with the political and military affairs of the country via the lopsided and unequal treaties and agreements.)

Through the enactment of EDCA in 2014, the American military has been able to access five military bases across the country on a rotational basis for combined military training. The number of EDCA sites has since expanded to nine under the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., with the Lumbia Air Base in Cagayan De Oro City as the only site in Mindanao.

For the group, the presence of US facilities and troops in the region spells additional cases of human rights violations, especially with the troops using the sites for live firing and war simulations.

“Murag ginahimo sa US ba ang Pilipinas as a launch pad, or kanang refueling station, or dili ba kaha halfway house para mamahimong lunsaran sa US kung pananglitan, simbako palayo, mag-escalate ang giyera,” Sissay told the Collegian.

(It seems like the US is making the Philippines a launch pad, or a refueling station, or perhaps a halfway house to serve as a jumping-off point for the US if, for example, knock on wood, the war escalates.)

In Cagayan de Oro, several groups and communities were alarmed after the arrival of US soldiers in the Lumbia Air Base and a US Navy ship in the Cagayan de Oro Port for the Balikatan Exercises 2026, BAYAN reported.

The Balikatan Exercise is an annual military exercise between US and Philippine troops, comprising maritime drills, coastal defense training, and joint live-fire exercises. This year’s exercise, which started April 20, was announced by the Armed Forces of the Philippines as the biggest iteration of the war games, featuring an expanded range of activities and a larger number of participants.

But since its establishment in 1999, the presence of the US troops has been linked to several human rights incidents and environmental issues.

In 2010, Gregan Cardeño of Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay, who worked as a Bahasa interpreter for the US troops in Marawi, was found dead inside the Joint Special Operations Task Force military headquarters. While he was initially hired as a security guard, his wife reportedly received a call from him crying while saying that he was in a difficult situation.

Subic Bay, a former major US naval base in the country, was reported to be contaminated with chemicals, including aviation fuel, polychlorinated biphenyls, and other hazardous waste, due to substandard construction of underground storage tanks and firefighting training facilities.

Although the AFP has denied that the depot may be a hotspot for attacks, the group remains opposed to the idea of additional US presence in Mindanao.

“Naka-realize ang mga tao na ang presensiya sa US troops posible siya na makadala og danger. Kung for example mag-expand ang giyera, kung muapil ang China sa giyera, common sense dictates na ang unahong atakihon sa China kay dili man ang US. Ang unahon sa China ug sa Russia kay katong mga country na naga-host og US bases, apil na diha ang Pilipinas,” Sissay added.

(People have realized that the presence of US troops can possibly bring danger. For example, if the war expands, if China joins the war, common sense dictates that China will not attack the US first. China and Russia will first attack countries hosting the US bases, and that includes the Philippines.)

The local government unit of Davao City has released a statement rejecting the proposed military oil depot, but the national government remains the final authority on matters of national security.

“Dili man gud ni siya up to the local government to decide, so dapat aksyonan pud ni siya sa national government—mismong gikan sa Malacañang na hisgutanan. Maong gapanawagan mi nga aside sa Davao City, ang mga neighboring na local government units sa Davao Region magpagawas pud og statement. That’s the very least that they can do. At the end of the day, ang pinaka-decisive sa pagpalayas sa kining US troops kay mao ang people’s movement,” Sissay said.

(This isn’t just up to the local government to decide, so the national government should also take action—it should come straight from the Malacañang. That is why we are calling on the neighboring local government units in the Dava region to also issue a statement, that’s the very least they can do. At the end of the day, the most decisive factor in the removal of US troops is the people’s movement.) ◆

Colleges around the university have released their official list of candidates for their respective student council elections.

ENG’G

UP PRIME Runs Unopposed For Second Straight Year in Eng’g Elections

by Alex Lauricio

An unopposed UP PRIME slate forwards student-led solutions to the College of Engineering facing a myriad of challenges and a dearth of participation in student politics in the past year.

This article is continuously being updated. ◆

Preliminary autopsy findings for the five bodies suggested that the Armed Forces of the Philippines failed to establish basic facts in the wake of the Toboso Massacre, which killed 19 individuals including nine civilians, and cast doubt on claims that the military upheld international humanitarian law, according to forensic pathologist Raquel Fortun.

Three male and two female bodies, all estimated between 22 to 40 years old, underwent X-ray scans at the Philippine General Hospital’s Department of Radiology before being handed to Fortun for autopsy. All five bore gunshot wounds—three bore multiple and three had bullet fragments still embedded, she said in a press conference in UP Diliman on Thursday.

Mishandling of the dead and a military cordon of the area following the massacre, involving removal of bodies prior to any examination typical of homicide investigations, hampered evidence recovery and identification, she said.

Some families were not shown faces, tattoos, or other identifying marks and simply told which bodies were of their relatives, while clothes were already removed from bodies and packaged separately—with only two bags of clothes afforded to Fortun, one mislabeled and the other unlabeled.

“Yun ang problema sa Pilipinas e, yung pumatay yung nag-iimbestiga, or sila yung in control of everything,” Fortun said.

For example, family members of slain 24-year-old peasant organizer Errol Wendel received a body with a different height, dental features, and signs of balding. In other cases, death certificates were already registered with blank entries for cause of death.

While withholding judgement pending the release of a full report, Fortun also cited the autopsy of an individual bearing four gunshot wounds, with bleeding from a leg artery and vein possibly proving fatal. This suggested the individual was refused aid and left to bleed out, she argued, which would constitute a violation of International Humanitarian Law.

Mishandling of the bodies provided few opportunities for determining the range from which they were fired at or their status as combatants. But she pointed to at least one female individual’s gunshot wounds on her back, indicating that she was not fighting, contrary to the military claim that all 19 dead were New People’s Army combatants.

Claims also circulated online that a paraffin test detected gunshot residue on the body of journalist RJ Ledesma, marking him a combatant. Fortun found wax in one bag of clothes, indicating that a paraffin test had indeed been performed.

Yet the fact that hands were not protected from contamination in the water or after body removal called into question the test’s veracity, she argued. The PNP also admitted in 2018 that paraffin tests can create false positives.

“It’s useless. It’s junk. And I keep saying, look, this is the 21st century. The fact that you’re still doing it? The fact na pinagyayabang mo na ginagawa niyo? Mahiya naman kayo,” she said.

She called for an “independent, science-based forensic investigation,” and cited the massacre as only the latest in a long series of examples of state impunity, “Walang accountability, patayan nang patayan.” ◆

Members of the UP Open University community are demanding accountability over online posts containing AI-generated images and spurious narratives about UPOU student Maureen Keil Santuyo and other members of the “Toboso 19,” killed by the military in Toboso, Negros Occidental, on April 19.

Leann Muego, chairperson of the UPOU University Student Council, called the posts a “blatant fabrication of narratives,” mentioning the community’s compounded vulnerability to cyberattacks as an open distance e-learning institution.

Cybersecurity researcher and UPOU alumnus Isaiah Crisanto concluded that these online AI-generated posts containing the alleged corpses of identified civilians constitute trolling, particularly due to their synchronized release plans and artificially boosted engagements.

“Facebook pages and even some regional news outlets were already spreading lies using an unredacted photo of Maureen Keil Santuyo’s UPOU ID with her real student number and her college/faculty,” Crisanto said in a Facebook post.

Counter-narratives

The killings came as a shock to the community. “Hindi namin in-expect. Siyempre, wala rin namang nag-expect sa ating lahat ng ganitong nangyari,” Muego said.

Community members are already calling for concrete actions from the university, such as the establishment of an academic freedom and human rights committee, similar to those in other UP constituent universities.

The said body would work as a “functional, proactive, and intervention-ready committee that will safeguard our rights inside and outside digital spaces,” the UPOU sectors, composed of its University Student Council and the local chapters of the All UP Academic Employees Union and the All UP Workers Union, said in a joint statement.

Political parties in UPOU told the Collegian that they suffered from an uptick in online threats and “post hijacking,” defined by Digital Democrats, among those affected, as a sudden rise in engagements entailing comments espousing state narratives. Both Digital Democrats and UPOU political party Sinagtala were on high alert after unknown individuals attempted to contact them.

The former also received a direct message request from an individual who may be a member of a paramilitary group located in Kapalong, Davao, per an internal memo provided by Digital Democrats chair Allen Canimo to the Collegian.

Sinagtala said that it also received on its Facebook page an unsolicited image of the corpse of an unidentified individual, according to its party chair Ashley Villamor.

“Isa ito sa mga marahas na porma ng red-tagging dahil hindi lang nito dine-dehumanize yung mga namatay, tinatanggalan din sila ng karapatan na magkaroon ng peace kahit na sila nga ay wala na rito,” Villamor told the Collegian.

The parties have already planned long-term initiatives to combat further instances of red-tagging and post hijacking, such as paralegal training and educational discussions.

“Ang long-term plans na kasama ang party sa pag-advocate ay more on capacity-building at personal security protocols din upang ma-ensure ang safety ng party members at ng buong E-skolar community,” Canimo told the Collegian.

Death Defiled

Four years into President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s term, extrajudicial and targeted killings, and the eventual red-tagging of victims on the internet, continue to be branded as counter-insurgency initiatives.

In February, doctored images circulated online in a smear campaign against families of EJK victims, portraying them as wealthy; an attempt to foil claims that the former president’s drug war was anti-poor.

Moreover, rights groups and families reported instances of state intimidation to cease demands for accountability over the victims in the 2021 Bloody Sunday Massacre in Southern Luzon. Just last year, the military posted a video tagging Cordillera People’s Alliance as “terrorists.”

The “Toboso 19” case is a continuation of the state’s efforts to legitimize violence against civilians, under the guise of counter-insurgency measures, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas said in a statement.

Negros Island continues to witness state violence that began with former President Rodrigo Duterte’s term and into Marcos Jr.’s administration, Felipe Gelle of Human Rights Advocates Negros said in a forum last year.

At the moment, groups continue to clamor for redress over the deaths of Santuyo, UP Diliman USC Councilor Alyssa Alano, and the other civilian victims killed on April 19.

“The sectoral alliance firmly asserts the practice of freedom of speech without sensing the risk, intimidation, and repression. The safety and freedom of our community are non-negotiable,” the UPOU sectors said in a statement. ◆

First published in the May 1, 2026 print issue of the Collegian

For the first time since the 2023 regular elections, which saw the withdrawal of political party STAND UP, there will be more candidates than available seats in the at-large races ahead of the upcoming polls for the University Student Council.

Fourteen are contending for the 12 open councilor positions. Among them, 10 are running as independents, with one incumbent councilor, Rommer Publico (CSSP), vying for reelection.

All posts from chairperson to councilor could finally be filled come May—a feat that has not been done since 2022.

Last year, 67.9% of voters cast their ballots for at least one candidate in the councilor elections, an overwhelming majority that ensured victory for all eight running for the 12 spots. Though the field was still short of four contenders, that same math could be the formula to completing the universitywide body.

But while the number of bids for those offices has increased, the same cannot be said about the college representative races, which fill the rest of the seats on the council.

Only nine—AIT, UPSA, UPSE, CMC, CS, CSSP, CSWCD, Eduk, and NCPAG—out of 25 will see a candidate run for representative to the USC this cycle, down from last year’s 12. All are unopposed, and UPSA is the only graduate school to feature a contender.

A good chunk of the college rank is expected to be filled after the polls in late May, either through locally held special elections or appointments by local college councils.

Meanwhile, the chairperson and vice chairperson elections will feature two bids each.

USC Vice Chairperson Moira Alfonso (CSSP), an independent candidate, is aiming to succeed incumbent chairperson Joaquin Buenaflor, with whom she previously ran under the Laban Kabataan coalition. Alfonso, originally a councilor, was elevated to the No. 2 spot after it was made empty by a controversy that saw a winner proclaimed despite falling behind abstentions.

Councilor Fatima Mendoza (CSWCD), who also ran under the same electoral alliance, filed her candidacy for vice chairperson.

For the sixth straight election cycle, UP ALYANSA will once again be the only registered party to field nominees, with four running under the blue party banner for councilor. Its slate will also include bets in the top two posts, with Therese Mangussad (Eng’g) standing for chairperson.

This is Mangussad’s third campaign for a standard-bearer position. She will be joined on the ALYANSA ticket by incumbent CAL Student Council Chairperson Reina Mae Hortel.

The campaign begins Monday, with the polls set for May 20-21. The University Student Electoral Board adjusted the election calendar in consultation with “students and other parties concerned,” following the death of Councilor Alyssa Alano. ◆

A barricade of furniture, cement blocks, and a tricycle was erected by residents of Area 17, Pook Malantic, and Pook Aguinaldo residents after a group of armed security guards and personnel, and a Megawide Corporation truck carrying metal rods, fences, and scaffolding barged along Amorsolo Street, Thursday morning.

The group included personnel from the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development and the Quezon City Police District, together with UP officials and security personnel from UP Diliman.

Security personnel of UP Diliman then attempted to break the barricade, resulting in a confrontation, where a security guard punched a minor according to residents. Some of the security guards were seen carrying batons and large guns—which they said were empty of bullets.

Residents were first told that the officials would only be proceeding to a single house to converse with the owner regarding the lot, but they were startled late morning when a truck from Megawide carrying fencing materials arrived and attempted to enter deeper into the community.

The land that the house was built upon is land claimed by UP under the 2008 UP Charter. DHSUD served the past owner an eviction notice and negotiated with them, together with personnel from Megawide Corporation.

Residents expressed their fear regarding the situation, saying that once UP, DHSUD, and Megawide get ahold of the parcel of land, it would open ways for them to more easily monitor and forcibly enter their community.

The materials carried by the truck are to be used for the construction of an office building, said an officer from the UP Diliman Public Safety and Security Office in a dialogue with the residents. However, the exact nature or purpose of the office building was not explicitly disclosed.

Residents demanded proper dialogue and due process in UP’s development plans regarding their land, stating that they are tired of projects being inked and advanced in their communities without consultation and explicit permission from them.

“Hindi sila nakipag-usap sa aming mga [residente],” said Charlie Clark, a residente of Pook Aguinaldo. “Makipag-coordinate muna, ipatawag yung mga tao para walang alarmang ganito—willing naman yung mga tao basta tamang pakikipag-aksyon at pakikipag-usap.”

Since UP unveiled plans for its SDG Park project—which is set to be built upon hectares of land long tilled by agricultural families of Pook Aguinaldo—residents have been facing armed surveillance and threats of demolition and displacement.

In addition, a housing project in collaboration with DHSUD is also planned to be built on Pook Marilag, a nearby area in the periphery of Pook Aguinaldo, as discussed by UP Diliman Chancellor Edgardo Vistan II in a public forum and in a town hall meeting April 22.

After interviewing officers and personnel present in the scene, the Collegian was not able to confirm the exact UP project the supposed construction materials were for.

“Ang ginagawa, takutan—tawag ng pulis, tawag ng guwardiya. Simpleng tao lang [kami] tapos dala dala nung guwardiya baril,” saad ni Clark “Ang sa amin naman, tao naman kami, kausapin nyo kami bilang tao.”

More security personnel were deployed in the area late afternoon. A meeting between the barangay and its residents is scheduled Friday. ◆

Days after the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ massacre in Toboso, Negros Occidental, authorities confirmed that 19 individuals were killed, with the Communist Party of the Philippines asserting that nine of them were unarmed civilians.

The April 19 massacre by the 79th Infantry Battalion included three student organizers, a journalist, two American human rights workers, farmers, and two children, amid allegations of a state effort to cover up the incident.

The CPP, in a statement sent to media outfits, identified only 10 of the victims as combatants, acknowledging the death of Northern Negros Front commander Roger Fabillar or Ka Tapang. The remaining nine, they assert, were non-combatants, including Alyssa Alano, UP Diliman University Student Council councilor, and RJ Ledesma, community journalist, as confirmed in an earlier report by the Collegian.

A wider net of organizations also called for an impartial, independent investigation of the massacre. The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines vowed to closely monitor the situation for possible human rights and International Humanitarian Law violations, which was echoed by other groups like Karapatan and the party-list Mamamayang Liberal.

Meanwhile, the Makabayan bloc filed House Resolution 962 on Monday, which aims to direct the House Committee on Human Rights to conduct an investigation on the massacre.

“Na-establish niyo (AFP) ba na bawat indibidwal sa 19 na yon, may baril na hawak? … Nagugulat ako doon, kasi halos sampung araw na, marami pa pala kayong hindi ma-establish tapos pag mag-press release kayo—member, encounter, terrorist,” Neri Colmenares said in a Karapatan press conference, referencing a Ted Failon interview with AFP Spokesperson Col. Francel Margareth Padilla.

Civilians were killed

Among those killed in the Toboso massacre were peasant organizers Maureen Keil Santuyo and Errol Wendel Chen. Two US citizens who were in Negros to live with the communities were also killed: Lyle Prijoles, human rights advocate, and Kai Sorem, cultural worker.

“Having studied Journalism and Asian-American Studies, Lyle strove to take his education beyond the classroom, and use it to listen to and uplift the stories of marginalized communities who had the courage to stand for their rights,” BAYAN USA said.

The remaining three are Roel Sabillo, a 19-year-old Toboso resident, and two minors aged 15 and 17.

Albertito Morados, information officer of Toboso, said that the municipality had agreed by a majority vote to declare “communist terrorist groups” and the New People’s Army persona non grata yesterday.

The CPP also said that Fabillar was summarily executed, instead of being taken as a prisoner of war. The party identified that Fabillar was in no position to fight before being killed, citing drone footage from a now deleted AFP post as evidence.

“We urge other conscionable elements of the AFP who possess other drone footages to smuggle these out and step forward to reveal real accounts of how the brutal crimes were carried out, against the stories being weaved by their superiors,” the party said.

Fabricated fact-finding

Investigations into the massacre continue to be controlled by the state. Ephraim Cortez, National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers president, told the Collegian that information from the ground says that no one is being allowed to enter ground zero, save for Buklod Kayapayaan.

The group, which fronts itself as the “nationwide federation of former CPP-NPA-NDFP members who now stand for peace and development” on its Facebook page, has been tireless in trying to prove that those who were killed were all members of the NPA despite all evidence presented being nothing but the military’s.

The federation recently launched Nabangani, a supposed fact-finding, solidarity, and relief mission. But the initiative has been conveying contradictory claims.

Noel Legaspi, Buklod Kapayapaan head, has been getting traction on Facebook for showing the site where the massacre happened. In a video posted Tuesday, Legaspi showed a pond where the “encounter” happened, partnered with commentary stating how all 19 individuals were slain around the area.

Contrary to this were the results of an investigation launched by Human Rights Advocates Negros, revealing how Ledesma was absent from the initial clash site in Sitio Sinugmawan and was instead attacked in Sitio Plariding during an ensuing military pursuit operation.

Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr., AFP chief of staff, and Gilbert Teodoro Jr., defense secretary, have also been releasing statements, backing the claims of the 79th Infantry Battalion, which launched the military operation that led to the Toboso massacre.

The military, however, backtracked on the chief’s claim in a radio interview. Padilla, AFP spokesperson, said that they can only confirm that there were 19 killed in the clash and 24 weapons were recovered—not whether all 19 were armed when the AFP killed them.

Other statements made by various government officials seem to hedge this fact, refusing to outright confirm whether or not all the individuals killed were armed when they were shot.

“The presence of two American fatalities in a single encounter should prompt careful reflection on how involvement in certain activities or networks may lead to unintended exposure to dangerous environments,” said Angelica Escalona, Department of Foreign Affairs spokesperson.

Continued state harassment

People on the ground in Negros Occidental also have no escape. Three days after the massacre, a peasant organizer was arrested by state forces, together with four others, who were all immediately branded as members of the NPA.

Julie Ann Balora, a union organizer with the National Federation of Sugar Workers and a member of the Unyon ng Manggagawa sa Agrikultura national council, was traveling from Victorias City, Negros Occidental, with four companions when an unmarked vehicle cut off their van in Talisay City, forcing them to stop and submit to a search, UMA reported.

Balora “saw an operative with two bags board the van,” it also said. About an hour later, they were brought to Talisay’s police station, where police said they discovered firearms and grenades in the bags. Balora was later interrogated without legal counsel and saw a companion punched in the chest.

“Tila halimbawa ng estado sina Julie Ann at Errol sa militanteng pesante: ‘Lalaban kayo? Heto mangyayari sa inyo,’” UMA National Chairperson Ariel Casilao said.

Various groups have cited Memorandum Order 32 from former President Rodrigo Duterte’s term, which allowed the entrance of multiple AFP battalions in the region, ultimately placing it under a “state of lawless violence.” Negros, however, has long been entrenched in landlessness with multiple human rights violations across past administrations.

Paghidaet sa Kauswagan Development Group recorded, for the entire Duterte administration, more than 50 cases of extrajudicial killings and 32 lives lost across six massacres, primarily involving sugarcane plantation workers. With the Toboso massacre, the killings continue even under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

The Commission on Human Rights recently launched an independent probe, citing how parties should strictly adhere to International Humanitarian Law.

“Instead of addressing landlessness, hunger and rural poverty, the regime chooses to unleash State violence in the countryside to protect landlords,” Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas said. ”We call on human rights institutions, the public, and the international community to intensify scrutiny and action against the worsening climate of impunity in Negros and across the country.” ◆

First published in the April 30, 2026 print issue of the Collegian.

Scientists and student leaders of UP Diliman are opposing the planned construction of a new experimental nuclear reactor on university land due to concerns over safety and links with the US military.

The planned microreactor “Ward One” is a partnership between the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute and Valar Atomics Research Institute, the Philippine branch of 3-year-old US-based startup Valar Atomics.

Microreactors form a subset of small modular reactors, which produce about a third or less the power of conventional reactors. At 100 kilowatts, “Ward One” would only produce around 0.01% of the power from a typical nuclear power plant, enough for around 270 households, based on 2023 data from the Department of Energy.

Nuclear reactors generate energy through fission, the splitting of atoms. In power-generating reactors, the fuel sustains a controlled chain reaction—that is, the reactor has achieved criticality—that produces heat and in turn, electricity.

Valar has not publicly indicated whether it aims to achieve criticality with “Ward One.” But the project is a continuation of Valar’s ongoing research and testing, as it will serve as an initial prototype for future reactors the startup plans to build in the Philippines, Kip Mock, Valar Atomics’ head of operations, said in a memorandum signing event last year.

Valar plans to employ emerging technologies in their microreactor by using tristructural isotropic or TRISO fuel. If manufactured well, the fuel can withstand higher temperatures and has a lower chance of releasing radioactive material than conventional fuel rods.

The startup aims to complete the project, which has already received approval from the Department of Science and Technology, within the next two to three years, PNRI Director Carlo Arcilla told the Collegian. It is now seeking approval from the Office of the Vice President for Planning and Development to build the project within PNRI, which is on university land, he added.

The Collegian has reached out to the OVPD for comment.

The Philippines’ archipelagic nature, where many isolated areas lack access to electricity, make it ideal for small modular reactors, which is why Valar supposedly chose to pursue the project in the country, Arcilla said.

But scientist group AGHAM criticized the project’s fast-tracked nature, which they say makes the country a testbed for experimental, US military-linked technology, in a statement March 24.

They also questioned the three-year old startup’s credibility in handling the construction of the reactor within an urban center given that the technologies they plan to use are new.

“I think yung problem talaga with safety here is sino yung mag-i-implement. Marami nang nuclear experts in the West na binabatikos ang Valar Atomics, sinasabi na wala silang—hindi nila alam anong ginagawa nila,” Gab Mesina, meteorology student at UP Diliman and chairperson of AGHAM’s Diliman branch, told the Collegian.

Isaiah Taylor, founder of Valar Atomics, touted that holding used fuel from “Ward One” for five minutes would expose one to radiation equivalent to a CT scan, a claim that has been questioned by nuclear experts. Taylor’s background is primarily in software, not nuclear energy.

Taylor has said their project was originally meant to be built in the US. In an April 2025 statement, he explained that his country’s strict regulations through its Nuclear Regulatory Commission forced them to build the reactor in the Philippines instead. Valar has not submitted a design for review to the commission and is actually suing it for supposedly stifling innovation.

Small modular reactors theoretically have a lower risk of meltdown as many employ passive safety systems, but this is still subject to the design of the reactor and the expertise of staff involved.

Because of technical and regulatory challenges with how recent the technology is, only two commercial power plants employing small modular reactors are operating in the world as of 2024.

The first is a floating power station in Russia made of a pair of reactors producing 70 megawatts of electricity, while the second is a larger 200 megawatt reactor in China. Both are situated within isolated areas near or on bodies of water, away from any urban areas.

Mesina also clarified that AGHAM is not against nuclear energy as a whole. After all, nuclear technology is not new to the Philippines—there are already two reactors housed in the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute, both having been used for research, training, and education.

The Philippine Research Reactor-1, the first nuclear reactor in the country, predates the controversial Bataan Nuclear Power Plant and originally operated at one megawatt. It was used from the 60s to the 80s before being decommissioned due to technical problems.

Fuel from this reactor was transferred to a newer reactor, Arcilla said, which has been fully operational since 2023. Though it can produce nuclear fission, this newer one does not generate any power at all and is solely used for research and education.

But despite the merits of nuclear technology, AGHAM questioned Valar’s ties with the US military, as it has collaborated with the Trump administration’s Department of Defense in its push to develop small modular reactor technology for military use. As early as 2016, the department has advocated for using this technology for bases of their navy and air force.

Microreactors could provide power to military bases disconnected from the civilian grid and give the US “the tools to win in battle”, Michael Duffey, US undersecretary of defense, said after a February demonstration flight where a microreactor made by Valar was airlifted from California to Utah.

Moreover, Valar has continuously received funding from US defense companies. Last month, it reached a valuation of 2 billion USD, partly due to funding by officials of Anduril Industries and Palantir, whose weapons have been used by the US in the Middle East.

“We want no part in being testing grounds for weapons or potential weapons ng US military na gagamitin nila for innocent children, innocent civilians in the Middle East, and in the future dito sa Pilipinas and Asia in their future wars,” Mesina said.

Though Arcilla denied that Valar would use its research for military use—as the company’s local plans would be reviewed by PNRI’s regulatory division—the nuclear institute would likely not have control over what Valar chooses to do with its research outside the Philippines.

“We call on all the Filipino scientists na tumindig to realize this isn’t the way to enter into nuclear power,” Mesina said. ◆

First published in the April 21, 2026 print edition of the Collegian.

UP vendors are lamenting the rise in prices of LPG tanks, which has caused an increase in prices of food products they sell in kiosks throughout the campus.

For kiosk vendors beside Palma Hall, a general P5 markup on almost all their rice meals was the solution to high gas prices, brought on by Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz since April 18, a primary pathway for oil and gas imports from suppliers in the Middle East.

Standard LPG tanks now cost around P1,700 compared to their previous price of P1,050, Philippine Association of Stores and Carinderia Owners President Joan Hipolito confirmed.

“Lalo na sa paggamit namin ng LPG, mula sa P850 ngayon P1,600 na ang presyo ng isang gasul, kung saan tatlong araw hanggang isang linggo ang time na puwede naming ma-consume,” Narry Hernandez, chairperson of Samahang Manininda sa UP Campus, told the Collegian.

The country’s economy relies heavily on its importers from the Middle East, which monopolize a whopping 98% of the country’s oil resources and 91% of LPG. And with the main import route closed, the country scrambles for sources that would fuel their stoves for cooking.

Along with the rising costs of food capital, vendors suffer scarce and weak safety nets amid the current crisis and continue to face threats of commercialization from the UP administration.

“Ayaw natin ng ayuda dahil iyan ay mapolitika at pinagkukunan ng korapsiyon yan. Ang gusto natin ay sustainable at pangmatagalang tulong,” Hernandez told the Collegian.

On the administrative criminal complaint filed by the vendors and the greater UP community against UP officials, the Ombudsman has already demanded the counter-affidavits of those involved in the case to determine whether a formal investigation has to ensue.

Representatives of the UP community filed a complaint last year listing Gyud Food Hub and DiliMall, which replaced the former Shopping Center, as products of negligent or bad-faith decisions that violated anti-corruption laws.

However, despite the advancements in the complaint, vendors still await redress for the lost revenue resulting from the displacement of their original stalls by these newly erected commercial establishments.

“The community called on the Ombudsman to act swiftly, citing the ongoing harm to students, vendors, and community members as commercial arrangements continue,” UP Not for Sale Network said in a Facebook post.

Vendors continue to demand accountability from the UP administration and the national government’s delayed reaction towards the upsurging inflation in commodity prices.

Recently, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. suspended the excise tax for LPG and kerosene, easing their gassed-up prices by P3.36 per kilogram or P37 per standard cylinder, the Department of Finance estimated. However, groups like Bagong Alyansang Makabayan said that such band-aid and piecemeal solutions do not equate the magnitude of the crisis.

“Dapat ay ibasura ang oil deregulation law at alisin ang VAT at excise tax. Dapat tanggalin na yan at dapat managot ang lahat ng korap,” Hernandez said during a university walkout last Wednesday. ◆

The Communist Party of the Philippines confirmed that University Student Council Councilor Alyssa Alano and community journalist RJ Ledesma were civilians, following a wide disinformation campaign by the Armed Forces of the Philippines branding both as slain members of the New People’s Army.

Alano and Ledesma are among 19 individuals killed as the AFP conducted a counter-insurgency strafing operation that displaced around 663 residents in Toboso, Negros Occidental, Sunday. While information is still being gathered on ground, at least five were verified as civilians by the CPP in an email exchange with the Collegian.

Alano was a BA Political Science student at UP Diliman, where she also served as education and research councilor of the USC. Meanwhile, Ledesma wrote for Paghimutad, an alternative media outlet and member of the Altermidya network. Both were in Negros Occidental for community integration and research regarding the situation of peasants in the area.

“What is emerging is a picture of indiscriminate firing and overkill, using superior firepower and drones, to carry out the brutal carnage. There are clear indications that the Toboso massacre constitutes a war crime,” Marco Valbuena, CPP chief information officer, said.

Reports from other progressive organizations also dispelled the military’s fabricated narrative that all slain individuals were part of the red army. A relative has already come forward to assert that one of the victims was a farmer and not a combatant, per Tanggol Magsasaka.

In previous clashes, the CPP and NPA would claim martyred members, in accordance with their tradition to memorialize and give honors to fallen fighters. So far, NPA Negros Island has claimed only a small squad led by Roger Fabillar or Ka Jhong among the identified deaths.

The party also determined that some of those killed were staying in adjacent communities, away from the initial attack by the 79th Infantry Battalion. Ledesma was absent from the initial clash site in Sitio Sinugmawan, according to Human Rights Advocates Negros. Instead, he was attacked in Sitio Plariding, similarly under Brgy. Salamanca, during an ensuing military pursuit operation.

Valbuena also argued that the AFP’s updated claim that 20 high-powered firearms were recovered contradicts their earlier reports that only seven high-powered firearms were recovered, likely to make it appear that all those killed were armed.

In light of recent developments regarding the identity of the slain individuals, the AFP has only doubled down on their narrative that only armed rebels were killed in the encounter.

Col. Louie Dema-ala, army spokesperson, urged that people should scrutinize than “outright” accept claims by various progressive groups that people killed during the encounter were researchers, journalists, and student leaders.

Dema-ala also easily dismissed the need for an urgent investigation regarding the identities of the slain individuals, questioning why they were at the site and “fighting” with soldiers.

Negros, however, has long been entrenched in bloodshed with multiple human rights violations in the past administrations. Various groups have cited Memorandum Order 32 from former President Rodrigo Duterte’s term, which allowed the entrance of multiple AFP battalions in the region, ultimately placing it under a “state of lawless violence.”

The CPP is still unable to give an exact number of NPA members who were killed in the fight. Identities of other slain individuals remain unknown, given that investigations and confirmation of bodies are still underway.

“Buong tapang at buong pusong tinanggap ni Alyssa ang hamon sa bawat Iskolar ng Bayan–ang paglingkuran ang sambayanan. Hinding-hindi natin siya malilimutan,” the UP Diliman USC said in a statement. ◆

Pinatunayan ng mga manggagawa ng West Avenue branch ng Kowloon House ang lakas ng kolektibong aksyon bilang tugon sa pag-itsapwera ng pamunuan ng kumpanya sa panawagang dagdag-sahod, matapos ideklarang matagumpay ang anim na araw na welga nila Lunes.

Nakasaad sa settlement agreement na nilagdaan ng mga kinatawan ng unyon at ng Katipunan Food Services Inc. noong Lunes ang P20 dagdag sahod para sa taong 2025 at 2026 na paunti-unting babayaran ng kumpanya mula Hulyo hanggang Nobyembre ngayong taon.

Bukod sa umento sa sahod, kabilang din sa mga napagtagumpayan ng unyon ang iba pang mga benepisyo katulad ng signing bonus, vacation, sick at union leave, loyalty pay, educational aid, at suporta para sa mga pagkilos tuwing Mayo Uno at Araw ni Bonifacio.

Nabawi rin ang P570,000 benepisyo sa service charge na tatlong taong kinulimbat ng pamunuan ng Kowloon House na linggo-linggong nitong babayaran kasabay ng dagdag sahod.

Tugon ng Unyon

Pumutok ang welga ng unyon noong Abril 15 sa bisa ng buong pagkakaisang 53-0 na strike vote noong Abril 8, mahigit isang buwan matapos ihain ang notice of strike sa Department of Labor and Employment at idineklarang deadlock ang collective bargaining agreement sa pagitan ng unyon at ng Katipunan Food Services Inc., alinsunod sa Omnibus Rules Implementing the Labor Code.

Ngunit noong Agosto 2025 pa nagsimula ang negosasyon para sa bagong collective bargaining agreement na kalaunan ay natengga dahil sa kawalan ng kooperasyon ng pamunuan ng Kowloon. Nitong Enero, muling nabuhay ang pagpapanawagan ng unyon hanggang sa magsagawa ng lunchtime protests ang mga manggagawa noong Marso.

Inilahad ng unyon sa isang bukas na liham ang mga paglabag ng pamunuan ng Kowloon House sa ilalim ng pamilyang Ng, kabilang ang hindi pagbigay ng P108 na dagdag sahod mula sa apat na nakalipas na wage order mula 2022 at sa nakaraang collective bargaining agreement.

Nakaranas din ang mga manggagawa ng sapilitang pagtrabaho lampas sa angkop na oras upang tugunan ang demand sa produksyon nang walang overtime pay.

Orihinal na P50 karagdagang sahod ang hinihiling ng unyon sa unang iterasyon ng collective bargaining agreement noong Agosto 16, 2025 na kalaunan ay ibinaba sa P25.

Ngunit ipinako ng pamunuan ng Kowloon sa P13 piso ang kayang ibigay na dagdag-sahod, dahilan ng pagkadiskontento ng mga manggagawa.

“Binaba na namin sa P20 bilang pakikisama namin sa management nang sa ganoon ay makabalik-trabaho rin ang lahat ng mga manggagawa. Pero kaakibat po niyan, bitbit po namin ang sampung probisyon na napagtagumpayan namin na nagkaroon ng settlement na nangyari kanina sa DOLE,” saad ni Bernard Dimaunahan, pangulo ng Kowloon House West chapter ng GLOWHRAIN - Kilusang Mayo Uno, unyon ng mga hospitality workers, sa Kulê.

Nasa 6,000 pirasong siopao ang minimong nagagawa ng mga manggagawa kada araw na nagkakahalagang P105 kada isa na binabalak na taasan ng P25. Kung itataas ang presyo sa P130, aabot sa humigit-kumulang P150,000 ang dagdag na kita ng kumpanya kada araw.

Ayon kay Dimaunahan, tinatayang nasa 1% lamang ng kikitain mula sa naturang pagtaas ng presyo ang hinihinging kabuuang dagdag-sahod para sa 60 manggagawa.

Bilang tugon, pinaralisa ng unyon ang produksyon para sa 85 na prangkisa ng Kowloon House, kung saan tinatayang nasa P500,000 kada araw ang kawalan sa kita ng kumpanya, ayon kay Dimaunahan.

“Tingnan mo naman, kung anong pinsala sa management na paralyzed ang production, kawalan ng benta sa kanila, kawalan din naman sa amin. Pero, mas higit sa kanila yung nawawala. Yung nawawalang milyon sa kanila compared to sa kakarampot na dagdag-sahod na talagang pinagkakait nila,” giit ni Dimaunahan.

Banta sa mga Manggagawa

Sinalubong ng iba-ibang porma ng pambabanta at karahasan mula sa pamunuan ng Kowloon, mga guwardiya, at kapulisan ang mga manggagawa at tagasuportang nanatili sa piket sa loob ng anim na araw ng welga.

Kabilang na rito ang panggugulo ng anak ng may-ari ng Kowloon House na si Stephen Ng habang lasing noong madaling araw ng Abril 16, kung saan sinigawan niya ang mga manggagawa at sinira ang mga itinayong harang sa piket.

Nilabag din ng kapulisan mula Quezon City Police Department at SWAT ang batas na nagbabawal sa kapulisan na lumapit nang mas mababa sa 50 metro sa piket line sa kasagsagan ng welga.

Samantala, naglabas-masok din ang ilan sa mga administrative employee ng Kowloon House upang subukang maibalik ang produksyon at kumuha ng mga dokumento, produkto, at kagamitan, ngunit bigo ang mga ito nang harangin ng unyon.

Hinarap din ng mga welgista ang pangamba na baklasin ng Kowloon House ang signage nito at palitan ng tarpaulin ng Tri-Angle Bar and Billiards, isang negosyong pagmamay-ari rin ng mga Ng, at pinagbawalan ang unyon na magsagawa ng mga aktibidad.

Daan-daang mga manggagawa, kabataan, at tagasuporta ang nakiisa at nakipamuhay sa inilunsad na piket ng unyon, kung saan iba-ibang aktibidad kaugnay ng welga ang isinagawa katulad ng mga diskusyon at kultural na pagtatanghal.

“Ang malaking lesson dito, importante talaga na may unyon yung manggagawa para ma-protect yung kanilang sarili sa lahat ng porma ng abuse ng management sa pambabarat sa sahod, benepisyo at iba pa. Kaya palaging pinapatunayan na anumang sentimo na hinihingi ng mga manggagawa ay hindi kusang ibibigay,” ani Kilusang Mayo Uno Chairperson Jerome Adonis sa isang panayam ng Kulê. ◆

The UP Diliman University Student Council has confirmed the death of Councilor Alyssa Alano while on a community visit in Toboso, Negros Occidental, following indiscriminate strafing from the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Sunday.

The USC is calling for justice for Alano, who was there to learn about the conditions of the community as it faced tight militarization from the AFP. As chair of the UP Diliman chapter of the League of Filipino Students, Alano has long been an advocate of marginalized sectors.

"Nagluluksa ang konseho at buong komunidad ng UP sa pagkawala ni Alyssa. Mahigpit ding nakikiramay ang konseho sa kanyang mga naiwang pamilya, kaibigan, at mahal sa buhay," it said in a statement.

Previously, the USC had already sent out an alert following heavy offensives in Toboso, which forced 600 families to evacuate.

Some other local media outlets in Negros Occidental have confirmed 19 dead following the strafing. ◆

This is a developing story.

The year 2025 was flooded with protests amid corruption scandals in the government. But instead of accountability and justice, the people were met with violations of their civil and political rights, according to human rights group Karapatan.

In its year-end report, Karapatan noted the upsurge in both major people’s actions and administration attacks against protesters through violent dispersals and trumped-up charges, which “restricted people’s right to assemble and air their grievances.”

There are 4,241 victims of violent dispersals under the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., according to Karapatan. But the gravest and most infamous incident was during the Sept. 21 Baha sa Luneta mobilization, during which the police used tear gas and live ammunition.

Karapatan noted at least 277 protesters arrested during the violent dispersal, 91 of whom were minors. Many of them reportedly suffered physical assault by the police and underwent delayed inquest proceedings, despite the law mandating only up to 36 hours of detainment without being brought to a judicial authority.

Long after the protest, activists and participants continue to experience harassment by the police through subpoenas on different charges, including sedition and inciting to sedition, which Karapatan described as the police’s justification for their “indiscriminate force and violence.”

“Ironically, while hundreds of protesters were arrested, tortured, and detained, and with nearly a hundred more being threatened with baseless charges, not a single corrupt big politician had been held accountable. The Marcos Jr. government and its law enforcers were clearly prioritizing the suppression of dissent while treating plunderers with kid gloves,” Karapatan stated.

Major anti-corruption protests were executed last year, including two iterations of the Baha sa Luneta mobilization on Sept. 21 and Nov. 30, 2025, as well as the Sept. 12, 2025 Black Friday protest, the largest walkout in UP Diliman since the pandemic.

Systematic Civil and Political Rights Violations

Through the maintained powers granted to the anti-communist task force NTF-ELCAC, threats against the people’s anti-corruption campaign have been systematic, according to Karapatan.

“In anticipation of the inevitable public demand for full accountability, (NTF-ELCAC) tried to dissuade the people, especially the youth, from delving deep into the issue of corruption. The NTF-ELCAC propagated scare tactics of how the Left had been allegedly riding on the corruption exposés to hoodwink the youth into joining protests and recruit them for the New People’s Army,” the report stated.

More specifically, the report flagged NTF-ELCAC’s National Action Plan for Unity, Peace and Development, which incentivizes local government units into making their areas “insurgency-free,” leading to ramped up red-tagging, military presence, and other human rights violations.

These stepped-up counterinsurgency operations paved the way for 135 cases of extrajudicial killing, 16 cases of enforced disappearance, 577 cases of forced or fake surrender, and 518 cases of illegal arrest and detention under the Marcos Jr. administration, as documented by Karapatan.

The peasant sector constitutes the majority of the list, with 102 victims of extrajudicial killing and six victims of enforced disappearance. Among them was Mëranaw farmer Juan Sumilhig, who worked closely with Indigenous and peasant communities and was killed by the military after being falsely tagged as an NPA combatant.

Laws, such as the Anti-Terrorism Act and the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act, also continued to be weaponized by the NTF-ELCAC, as more human rights defenders and leaders of people’s organizations are charged with trumped-up cases of violating them, according to Karapatan.

Since their passage, at least 227 individuals have been charged with violating these two laws, and 34 individuals have been designated as “terrorists” by the Anti-Terrorism Council. Of those charged, 30 are currently detained, including community journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio and lay worker Marielle Domequil, who are currently set to elevate their terrorism financing conviction to the Court of Appeals.

Despite these documented human rights violations on top of the people’s insistent anti-corruption campaign, Karapatan noted the allotted P60 billion for the Armed Forces of the Philippines modernization program and P8.08 billion for NTF-ELCAC’s Barangay Development Program—four times bigger than the amount from the 2025 budget.

Although the 2026 budget could be a manifestation of this year being “business as usual” for the administration, Karapatan believed that the people should not be discouraged amidst multiple human rights violations.

“The year 2026 is also a clear path for the people’s democratic movement for justice and accountability to march through, in order to decisively put an end to the deeply entrenched evil of bureaucrat capitalism ... From the rage of the protest movement shall rise genuinely patriotic and democratic alternatives for systemic change. After all, the people shall prevail,” Karapatan stated. ◆

Public school teacher and solo parent, Mayla Garzon, never thought her own daughter, Charlize or Ceeka, would become an activist one day. But in a country where societal injustices persist, Charlize took to the streets and later served as a volunteer teacher to the Mangyan Indigenous communities in Mindoro.

Mayla noticed her daughter’s gift for the arts as soon as she could hold a pencil. But for Charlize, talent meant nothing if it did not serve the people. She joined Panday Sining, a youth-based organization advancing the arts for national democracy—first at the University of Santo Tomas chapter while she was in senior high school, then the Malate chapter in college.

“I don’t know kung ano ang sasabihin [ng iba]. ‘Proud ka ba?’ Yes po, proud po ako na ang anak ko ay may paninindigan,” Mayla told the Collegian during a more than weeklong fact-finding mission in Occidental Mindoro.

The military arrested Charlize on March 29 over accusations of frustrated murder and illegal possession of firearms and explosives, following an alleged encounter between the New People’s Army and the 68th Infantry Brigade in San Jose, Occidental Mindoro.

A week later, a staff member from the Office of the Provincial Prosecutor told Mayla to settle the case by urging her daughter to falsely admit that she is an armed rebel.

“[Itinuro] ko sa mga isip ng anak ko na kung hindi mo ginawa, huwag mong aaminin, di ba?” Mayla said. “Tingnan ninyo na lang po yung likod ni Ceeka kung kaya niyang bumuhat ng Armalite at ng 308 na bala, granada, at kung ano-ano pa.”

A mother sees

Mayla recalled being in Mendiola on Sept. 21, watching over Charlize as she echoed the call “Lahat ng sangkot, dapat managot!” It was one of her daughter’s dreams, after all, to hold a megaphone and become a mass leader one day. “Nandun ako para kung sakaling magkatakbuhan, mahihila ko si Charlize,” Mayla said.

Now, her daughter is one of more than 518 activists who have been illegally arrested and detained by the state over allegations, mostly of terrorism, since Marcos Jr. took office in 2022, per a 2025 year-end report by human rights group Karapatan.

But Charlize suffered more than illegal arrest and detention. Mayla said that on the first evening of Charlize’s detention at the San Jose Municipal Police Station, her daughter was subjected to physical assault, death threats, and red-tagging from the military personnel who had arrested her.

The same personnel also tried to make Charlize admit that she’s a member of the NPA. Mayla realized that an admission would mean additional badges of honor for the military personnel who arrested Charlize.

During a blackout in the following nights, an unidentified individual in civilian clothing pointed a flashlight at Charlize and taunted her, “Sanay ka naman sa gubat na madilim.” When she faced away, Charlize recalled the man calling her “Ka Kaye,” her alleged rebel identity in a report submitted by the military.

Karapatan has noted this pattern of forced false surrenders among activists arrested by the military due to coercive strategies and threats against them and their families.

The organization has also noted a P8.08 billion “Generals’ pork” being distributed to rebel-cleared barangays nationwide that red-tagged and staged fake surrenders, following the NTF-ELCAC’s “peace and justice” program.

A mother acts

Unlike before, Mayla now understood how big the budget the state has for attacking activists and human rights defenders in digital and physical spaces through NTF-ELCAC and other state forces.

As the Garzon family and friends visited Charlize on April 6, members of Karapatan Southern Tagalog subsequently faced harassment, physical attacks, and surveillance from the police, military, and participants involved in a “peace rally” in San Jose Municipal Plaza.

Kean Peralta, Panday Sining national chairperson, also told the Collegian that masked participants were paid by the state to participate in the rally. The supposed protest had dubious calls, red-tagging Karapatan Southern Tagalog and other progressive groups.

Some of the participants, whom Peralta and Karapatan ST were able to talk to, were even Buhid Mangyans who were told by the military to participate in exchange for food and money, but weren’t informed of the activities.

“Ginagawa nila ito (peace rally) dahil gusto nilang pahinahin ang moral namin. … But for these people na kasama ko, ang mga kaibigan ni Charlize, ang mga supporter, hindi dapat ako panghinaan ng loob,” Mayla said.

For now, Charlize’s safety has been secured after she was transferred to the San Jose District Jail from the San Jose Municipal Police Station on April 8. She is now awaiting further developments in her legal proceedings.

Mayla never imagined becoming an activist before. But in a country that designates activists and human rights defenders as terrorists and criminalizes dissent, she said she won’t hesitate to join the struggle for fellow mothers separated from their children by state forces.

“Sana magkaroon ng parang symposium o seminar sa mga ina ng mga aktibista o gustong maging aktibista. Kasi unang-una, alam ko, nauunawaan ko na bilang nanay, iisipin mo ang welfare at safety ng anak mo, pero kung malalaman mo ang pinaglalaban nila, mauunawaan mo,” Mayla said. ◆

A growing number of UP jeepney drivers have suspended their operations after oil companies hiked fuel prices to above P165 liter at the start of April, following US-Israeli attacks on Iran, halting most oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.

UP-SM North drivers like Ronaldo Bernardo are now spending an upward of P1,000 on only about seven to eight liters of diesel, which lasts him about two full trips—three at most if there is minimal traffic. While the route tends to be the most profitable on campus, he nowadays earns just enough to pay for the jeep’s original boundary of P1_,000 per day.

The boundary is a fixed daily rental fee that the driver pays to the jeepney owner.

Operators have adjusted boundaries to account for soaring prices at the pump. But even with an agreement to split daily profits equally with his operator, Bernardo’s take-home income is only enough for a day’s worth of food and allowance for his child.

For Bernardo, one would be lucky to take home P500 after 12 to 14 hours of driving. But as fuel prices continue to climb, he has started thinking about walking away from the driver’s seat, just like his peers.

Last Trip

Almost half of all UP-SM North drivers, especially those living in the provinces, temporarily stopped driving due to the Holy Week break. However, some have decided to delay their return until fuel prices roll back or stabilize, according to UP Transport Group spokesperson Nolan Grulla.

“Kung bumalik yung diesel, baka bumalik [kami sa biyahe], pero kung ganoon pa rin na napapagod ka na walang napupuntahan, yun ang masakit,” Grulla told the Collegian.

At least five UP Ikot drivers have also reportedly stopped plying their routes since fuel prices reached P119 in the third week of March, said Cesar Sta. Maria, president of the UP Ikot Drivers Association.

Before the sharp fuel hikes, drivers could earn up to P2,000 per day, even with a regular-priced boundary, doing trips from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. However, this immediately changed as oil prices spiked.

Sta. Maria fears that the continuous hikes and the upcoming end of the semester could push more drivers to halt their operations, leaving many of them unemployed in the meantime.

Partial Relief

Despite a promised P5,000 subsidy for jeepney drivers from the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the majority of drivers working the Diliman routes have not received the assistance, Grulla said.

Their names were not included in the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board’s initial list of 21,700 jeepney drivers for the first batch of distribution on March 25. While included in the list, drivers plying other routes also faced long queues at the Quezon Memorial Circle, where one driver had a seizure from hunger while waiting in line.

“Malaking tulong sana sa amin yung P5,000. I-save mo na para makabili ka ng isang sakong bigas. Kasi ang ulam, madali na lang, puwede tuyo o sardinas. Yung bigas important kasi pinakamababa ngayon ay P60,” Grulla said.

Drivers who were not on the list will have to wait another week as special payouts will only be scheduled after the DSWD and LTFRB finalize the list of eligible drivers.

For those who did receive the subsidy, like UP-Katipunan drivers Leo Mendoza and Arnel Martin, the cash aid remains inadequate to support their families and sustain their livelihoods amid the continued rise in fuel prices.

Mendoza, for one, has to budget the subsidy for the daily allowance of his two children, as well as a 25-kilogram sack of rice, a kilo of meat, and additional money for diesel. He would have to complete a whole trip to earn enough for breakfast, since he usually prioritized filling up the tank.

“Parang nag-lockdown yan. Mabuti pa noong nag-lockdown, maraming nagbibigay ng tulong sa driver. Ngayon, walang nagbibigay. Yung tinaas halos doble o triple, pero yung pinapangako ng gobyerno di naman natututupad,” Martin said.

Band-Aid Solutions

Though the Department of Transportation initially approved a P1 increase in base fares, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. suspended the said hike on March 18, one day before its scheduled implementation, as “it is not the right time to raise fares.”

But even with the fare hike and the subsidy, for the drivers, they would only cushion a small part of the income loss caused by rising fuel prices.

“Ayaw naming mag-increase dahil sino ang matatamaan? Ang mga manggagawa. Yung sahod ng mga manggagawa, hindi tumataas,” Grulla said.

The P1 increase would only cover a small part of the total tax burden, which includes the fixed excise taxes of about P6 per liter for gasoline and P10 per liter for diesel, as well as the 12% value-added tax computed from the total rate, making it more sensitive to price surges.

Marcos has signed a bill granting him the ability to suspend or reduce fuel excise taxes into law. And the administration could exercise those powers by mid-April, the Department of Finance said. But the 12% VAT, the greater price contributor of the two, will be untouched.

For now, the Ikot, Katipunan, and UP-Philcoa associations have implemented an alternate coding system to avoid further losses and ensure that each driver does not compete with other jeeps during their scheduled time.

But drivers are still forced to go a day without any income under this setup. For Katipunan jeepney drivers, who began implementing the scheme even before the surge, further increases at the pump could shift the schedule to a three-day cycle, with a single day of driving followed by two days off-road to offset the loss in income.

Despite these challenges, route leaders and the UP Transport Group are determined to keep driving, as they call for a sustainable solution from the national government.

“Ayaw namin ng ayuda kasi nakokorap yun. Ang hinihiling namin ay ibalik sa P55, alisin ang 12% VAT ng petrolyo para maayos ang aming hanapbuhay, yung hanapbuhay na hindi kami araw-araw may agam-agam na baka kami ay tumigil,” Grulla said. ◆

First published in the Apr. 7, 2026 print issue of the Collegian.

The Tingguian Indigenous community in Abra is contesting a firm’s ongoing process of free, prior, and informed consent to obtain a mining exploration permit due to concerns about its compliance with existing guidelines and its history of non-consultation.

Under application 129, Yamang Mineral Corp. is seeking an exploration permit for its mining project, which covers 16,187 hectares of land—roughly the size of Quezon City—and affects four municipalities in Abra: Sallapadan, Licuan-Baay, Lacub, and Malibcong.

Yamang Mineral is a subsidiary of FCF Minerals Corp., the parent company of Woggle Corp., which is the firm residents of Dupax del Norte, Nueva Vizcaya, are protesting for its lack of consultation for its mining exploration activities.

At present, Yamang Mineral is holding assemblies with the community and the Abra provincial office of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples as part of the free, prior, and informed consent process. But instead of being open to the whole community, the first assembly held Feb. 17 was limited to only 10 people per barangay due to supposed budgetary restrictions.

“So community, alam na natin that this should really involve yung majority of the community na makaka-attend. Their explanation to other municipalities when they asked this is that it’s just for the sake of the budgeting. But it does not mean that they should be limiting people to attend the consultation,” Sammy Anongos, secretariat of anti-mining network SUMIKAD Abra, told the Collegian.

NCIP Abra did not provide guidelines in choosing the barangay’s representatives either, which opened the possibility of a barangay captain selecting participants who align with their stance on the mining project, Anongos added.

Aside from the limit on the number of participants, the community also questioned NCIP Abra’s decision to centralize the assemblies to one per municipality instead of per barangay.

The Revised Guidelines on the Exercise of Free and Prior Informed Consent and Related Processes state that two community assemblies shall be held. The first is an orientation for the entire process, where the method of consensus-building or decision-making will be decided upon. Here, two IP leaders must also be selected to be part of the leading team that will submit recommendations after the end of the consent process.

Meanwhile, the second is the applying company’s proposal presentation. After these, the community must decide within 10 days to two months whether or not the mining permit will be granted.

According to the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act, the IP rights to ancestral domains include the right to an informed and intelligent participation in any project affecting their land, which can be hindered by limited participation in the assemblies.

This is not the first time that Yamang Mineral has been criticized for its nonconsultation with the community in Abra.

In February 2024, the mining firm started to conduct exploration activities in Sallapadan, such as rock and soil sampling and drone mapping, after obtaining an Authority to Verify Minerals permit from the Mines and Geosciences Bureau, which the firm claimed does not require free, prior, and informed consent.

Residents then barricaded the area and petitioned against the activities, which forced the NCIP office in Cordillera to order Yamang Mineral to stop its operations and emphasize that the obtained permit also requires consent from the community. In November 2024, a House resolution seeking an inquiry into the firm’s activities was filed—similar to the fate of its affiliated company, Woggle Corp., which is currently undergoing a Senate inquiry.

Other communities in Abra are also opposing another mining project in the municipality of Lacub, reiterating the community’s long-standing opposition to large-scale mining, as manifested in the municipal resolution prohibiting the entry of large-scale and destructive mining operations.

Along with calls for the NCIP to respect the guidelines of the consent process and investigate Yamang Mineral for its various violations, SUMIKAD Abra is also calling on the community to continue standing against threats of development projects in the Cordillera region.

“This is our ancestral land. And this has been developed by our forefathers, protected by our forefathers, and passed through us. And then we will also be likewise passing this ancestral land to the next generation. So, yung ganyan na cycle, sisingilin tayo once we allow the destruction of our ancestral land or the destruction of our livelihood,” Anongos said. ◆

First published in the Apr. 7, 2026 print issue of the Collegian

Tahasang panre-red-tag ang sumalubong sa mga progresibong grupong pesante na nakiisa sa paggunita ng Global Day of the Landless noong Marso 29 sa Bula, Camarines Sur.

Namataan at agarang binaklas ng mga grupo ang mga nakapaskil na materyal na naglalaman ng mukha ng mga aktibista, manggagawang pangkaunlaran, at kabataang kabilang sa mga nagdaang mobilisasyon sa Bikol na iniuugnay sa mga armadong grupo, ayon kay Karapatan Bicol Regional Coordinator Nida Barcenas sa isang panayam ng Kulê.

Habang tinatanggal ito ng mga grupo, natuklasang mga gamit na mga dokumento ng 9th Civil Military Operations “Kaagapay” Battalion ng Armed Forces of the Philippines na nakabase sa Pili, Camarines Sur ang ginamit na papel sa mga poster.

Kaugnay ng isinagawang pagkilos ang nangyayaring alitan sa lupa sa pagitan ng mga negosyanteng hindi lehitimong residente ng lugar na siyang nagbabadyang magpalayas sa mga magsasakang mahigit 70 taon nang nagbubungkal ng lupain.

Iniulat ng Karapatan Bicol at Defend Bicol Stop the Attacks Network ang mga insidente ng panre-red-tag sa Commission on Human Rights upang magsagawa ng sariling imbestigasyon at mapanagot ang mga nasa likod nito, subalit aminado si Barcenas na walang nagagawang aksyon ang CHR bukod sa dokumentasyon ng mga kaso.

Kinilala ng Korte Suprema sa isang ruling noong 2024 ang dulot na banta sa buhay, kalayaan, at seguridad ng red-tagging, ngunit nananatiling limitado ang mandato ng CHR sa pagsisiyasat at pagbibigay ng rekomendasyon, at wala itong kapangyarihang magpatupad ng parusa laban sa mga lumalabag ng karapatang pantao.

“At a time when communities are burdened by rising prices, corruption scandals, shrinking civic spaces, and worsening economic conditions, the continued resort to red-tagging demonstrates the state’s refusal to engage legitimate dissent. Instead of addressing urgent social and economic issues, resources are used to vilify and intimidate critics,” giit ng Defend Bicol Stop The Attacks Network sa isang pahayag.

Samantala, parehong mga paskil na nag-uugnay naman ng mga lider-estudyante, aktibista, at mamamahayag pangkampus sa New People’s Army ang namataan sa parehong araw sa Bicol University Main Campus sa Legazpi City, Albay.

Agad na ipinaabot ng Bicol University Student Council sa Office of Student Affairs and Services at sa Legal Office ng pamantasan ang insidente para sa agarang aksyon, saad ni BU USC Chairperson Kyle Bron sa isang panayam ng Kulê.

Inaasahang tatalima ang mga hakbang na gagawin ng Office of Student Affairs and Services at Legal Office ng BU sa mga tuntuning nakasaad sa umiiral na palisiya ng pamantasan sa pagtugon sa mga kaso ng red-tagging, kung saan kabilang ang pagbuo ng komiteng tututok sa mga kaso at pagbibigay ng suporta sa mga biktima, gaya ng ligtas na matutuluyan, guidance counselling, at legal assistance.

Ang palisiyang ito ay sinimulang ipatupad nitong unang semestre ng taong panuruan 2025-2026 matapos ang sunod-sunod na insidente ng panre-red-tag at paniniktik sa mga mag-aaral at lider-kabataan ng BU na aktibong lumalahok sa mga usaping panlipunan at pampulitika mula 2021.

“The Anti-Red Tagging Policy of Bicol University is, and should be, a living policy, and its strength lies in how it is upheld in times of crisis when students are attacked, silenced, and threatened,” giit ng nagkakaisang sangkaestudyantehan ng BU sa isang pahayag. ◆

Unang inilathala sa Abril 7, 2026 isyu ng Kulê.

While the army touts the arrest of a communist rebel named “Ka Kaye,” friends, relatives, and advocacy groups claim the military is using propaganda to cover up the unlawful detention of Charlize Garzon, a cultural worker and activist.

Garzon was arrested by the military following a reported Sunday clash between the 68th Infantry Brigade and the New People’s Army in Sitio Salafay, San Jose, Occidental Mindoro. Currently detained at the San Jose Municipal Police Station, she was recently charged Monday with frustrated murder in connection with the death of an army officer during the encounter, as well as illegal possession of firearms and explosives.

Various advocacy groups have been quick to condemn the military’s swift classification of Garzon as a rebel combatant, arguing that the arrest and subsequent designation of a civilian as a red fighter violated the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law.

The military fiercely pushed back against these allegations, maintaining that they operate strictly within legal bounds. 2nd Division Public Affairs Office chief colonel Michael Aquino even said that as soldiers, they are duty-bound to respect human rights at all times.

The army’s promises of respect, however, find little grounding in the reality of Garzon’s detention, with friends and family members describing a campaign of coercion and intimidation.

An update Thursday morning from a friend of the family stated that Garzon testified to her mother that she has been experiencing physical abuse and receiving death threats from the Armed Forces of the Philippines since her detention. Plainclothed state agents entered Garzon’s cell to forcefully interrogate her without the presence of a lawyer.

Aquino and the state have also been working double time to flip the narrative. They claimed that progressive groups compromised Garzon’s dignity by posting her face online—a charge Karapatan quickly debunked with a screenshot of a March 30 Facebook post by Aquino himself, revealing Garzon’s face to the public first.

Denied Entry

After hearing about Garzon’s case, friends and family went to Occidental Mindoro to seek clarity, but were immediately met with intimidation. While the group gathered, Mayla Garzon, Charlize’s mother, was hounded by persistent calls from unknown numbers.

Meanwhile, three men in plainclothes identifying themselves as military personnel converged in the home of Garzon’s 72-year-old grandmother, who was alone at that time in Cavite, as shared by Sky Tuazon, Garzon’s friend, in a Facebook post.

The harassment reportedly extended to the workplace of Garzon’s mother, a high school teacher. According to a statement from Chronic Rodriguez, a friend of the family, military personnel visited the school to speak with the school head and pressured Garzon’s mother to travel with them to Mindoro to meet a lieutenant. But the family refused this and traveled to Occidental Mindoro on their own together with friends of Garzon.

After the family’s almost 24-hour journey to Occidental Mindoro, their attempt to confirm the welfare of Garzon was met with a new set of barriers. Police officers denied them visitation rights, citing the presence of the family’s legal counsel as the reason for the exclusion.

The ensuing confrontation with the group and AFP was marked by a total absence of legal protocol. Men, who were in plainclothes and refused to provide identification or a warrant, pressured Garzon’s mother to leave with them by herself and ordered the family to stop documenting the encounter. For two hours, the family was also told to wait for a superior who never appeared, Tuazon added.

Tuazon added that authorities declined to answer basic questions regarding Garzon’s condition—whether she is injured and has been fed and at what time exactly she was detained.

Panday Sining released a statement reporting that AFP decided that the only people allowed to see Garzon are her mother and sibling, which was an offer condemned by her mother due to lawyers not being allowed to visit with them.

Parental Lock

While the state continues to block Garzon’s mother from physical access to her daughter, groups have reportedly pursued contact through other channels. Anabelle Sabado, national secretary of Hands Off Our Children Movement, immediately messaged Garzon’s mother hoping to get in contact with her.

While there are multiple Facebook accounts of Hands Off Our Children, one described the organization as “the representation of parents whose children were agitated and recruited by the CPP-NPA-NDF via their front organizations operating in schools.” They have been actively releasing anti-Left content since 2019 and holding numerous press briefings echoing notorious red-tagging bodies like the NTF-ELCAC.

Sabado, in particular, has been quite active in matters concerning Mindoro.

The start of the year marked intensified attacks in Mindoro, where bombing and aerial strafing led to the death of three Mangyan-Iraya children and two students—one of them being Jerlyn Rose Doydora, a student researcher from Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila—which groups immediately condemned.

In a turn of events, Sabado, representing Doydora’s family, released statements denying Doydora’s image as a “hero” and calling Doydora a “victim of manipulation, deceit, and ideological grooming.” Meanwhile, the National Democratic Front of the Philippines shared that she was merely conducting research on the state of peasants and indigenous peoples in Mindoro.

Forced Intrusion

Mindoro has emerged as a focal point for military escalation in recent years. Since 2022, centralized operations such as the Retooled Community Support Program and Civil Military Operations have served as the primary framework for intense militarization in the province. Rights groups, however, contend these programs are merely a facade for a campaign of extrajudicial killings and bombings.

Worse, efforts to condemn these attacks often lead to more. UP students from UP Los Baños and Diliman were harassed by state forces when they camped outside a police station in condemnation of extrajudicial killings by the military Aug. 9, 2025.

Similar to last year, dubious protests are once again being held in Occidental Mindoro, where participants with obscured faces and factory-fresh placards were condemning the presence of progressive groups around the area.

Despite these challenges, friends and family of Garzon remain strong as they continue to call on the Commission of Human Rights to quickly investigate Garzon’s case.

“Bilang isang ina, masakit para sa akin ang ginagawa nila sa aking anak,” Mayla Garzon said. “Kaya po nananawagan po ako ng hustisya para sa aking anak na sana maibasura ang gawa-gawang kaso sa kaniya na wala namang katotohanan. ◆

Content warning: This article contains descriptions of sexual harassment, coercion, and discriminatory behavior.

Entering third year in mechanical engineering, where classes were largely regarded as “terror subjects” in their program, Avery* decided it was time to find a support structure through a home organization—and they saw no better option than UP Gears and Pinions (GPs).

Pragmatically, GPs offered extensive academic resources and connections. More significantly, however, it promised a sense of belonging crucial for students without a solid community in their department.

“What I think is the most seductive is the camaraderie they promise. They like to differentiate themselves from other orgs in the sense that they’re more of a family than anything,” Avery said in an interview.

But that facade quickly crumbled for Avery, who witnessed systemic misconduct, harassment, and coercive practices within the organization, leading them to defer their application near the end of the first semester of the previous academic year.

Time has not healed Avery’s wounds, especially since the accountability and reform Avery demanded from the organization have not yet been heeded despite filing two separate reports to their College Disciplinary Committee (CDC) and the Office of Anti-Sexual Harassment (OASH) within the last nine months.

‘Camaraderie’

As with many organizations in UP Diliman, GPs’s application process includes a signature sheet or sig sheet for applicants to get to know members. Each applicant is partnered with a member, called their buddy, to guide them.

As early as the getting-to-know portion, the sig sheet already contained inappropriate and intrusive prompts like “The furthest I have gone sexually is,” “My secret fetish is,” “Virgin pa ba si buddy? Bakit? E ako ba,” and “Mahilig ba ang buddy ko sa porn? Anong type?”

Members supposedly reminded their applicant buddies regularly that answering was completely optional—something that the current GPs executive committee argued in its response letter to the CDC complaint.

Copies of the CDC and OASH complaints, GPs’s subsequent response, and supporting evidence were reviewed by the Collegian with the permission of a source close to the case.

GPs did not consider these questions inappropriate as they “merely provide a platform that will enable the parties involved to have a healthy avenue for discussion,” as stated in their response. Nonetheless, the 2017 Anti-Sexual Harassment (ASH) Code identifies inquiries or comments about a person’s sex life as a light offense.

Avery and other applicants also deemed it especially concerning that minors in their app batch were exposed to such a culture. In one instance, there was a minor who was paired up with a 22 or 23-year-old member.

“It was very weird to me considering na yung section na yun is a getting-to-know section. Tapos, hindi mo pa masyado kilala yung buddy mo, and you have to answer those na,” said Alex*, one of three other anonymous witnesses in the complaints, in an interview with the Collegian.

‘Choice’

Beyond the getting-to-know portion, the sig sheet really hinges on the actual completion of tasks. Applicants must obtain two signatures from every member of GPs by fulfilling tasks decided by each member.

Some members had tasks requiring applicants to post videos of themselves performing demeaning or embarrassing tasks.

Avery, for one, was tasked to record themself screaming in public and post it on a dummy Facebook account but was eventually told to post it on their main account to receive the signature from the member largely regarded as a terror member.

But some of the other tasks that were required to be posted only in the private Facebook group between members and applicants typified humiliation in a different way.

For one, a task involved an applicant videotaping themself completely nude, save for another applicant obstructing their genitals. Another involved an applicant photographing themself nude but with a toy car covering their genitals.

A clip of one task where an applicant pretended to pee on another co-applicant, while making inappropriate sounds in the background, was even shown in a promotional video for the org’s subsequent application season, though supposedly with their consent, per GPs’s response.

None of the tasks involved full nudity, a technicality that GPs held onto in its response letter. “Simply showing one’s body, especially in a non-sexual context and without any explicit sexual elements, cannot reasonably be construed as sexual advances,” it said in its response.

GPs also asserted that applicants performed these tasks entirely out of their own volition, as the members prepared other less explicit tasks.

But more humiliating and explicit tasks garnered a larger reaction from the members—a response crucial to applicants, since the lack of “remarkable tasks” could be a basis for rejection, said Avery.

Tasks or activities with sexual undertones should not be included in org activities at all, especially for application processes, where there are no strictly objective criteria for an applicant to be accepted, said Janet De Leon, University Extension Specialist I under OASH, in an interview with the Collegian.

While doing these tasks, there was also an added layer of intimidation, Avery said, as some members would rip up sig sheets.

GPs said in their response that such an act should be justified by the member, and they could face sanctions for failing to do so. But Avery said that any such reasoning was never disclosed to the apps, so they all operated under the assumption that their sig sheet could be torn apart at any given point.

One member also introduced a “wheel of names” mechanism, where a random applicant would be permanently barred from receiving that member’s signature if their group failed a task. Since acceptance to the org required obtaining signatures from all members, this effectively meant that the selected applicant would be rejected.

Culture

Unaware of the inner workings of the organization, applicants could feel pressured to conform to whatever the application process entails, reinforced by the culture they perceive within the organization.

Such a culture may be seen in the org’s sig sheet at the time, which included anonymous descriptions of all the members from other members.

But interspersed within the sincerity of some of the messages were descriptors like “pwedeng bumili dito ng damo,” “homophobe,” and “nagsasabi ng n-word” that seemed to normalize drug selling and trivialize discrimination.

GPs has a history of making offensive remarks against the LGBTQ+ community, one that they acknowledged and promised to correct in a statement released during Pride Month in 2020.

Yet during Avery’s application, they cited an instance where an applicant and their buddy posted a photo of them hugging each other shirtless in bed—“pretending to be gay,” said Avery—which garnered laughters from some members.

“Using someone’s sexual orientation as the punchline of a joke reduces their identity to something laughable or abnormal, perpetuating stigma,” said Avery, who is bisexual themself.

Though screenshots of their conversations showed that some of the executive committee members agreed with Avery that it was offensive, both the current and former executive committees reneged on this in their response letter. “The post in question was a display of friendship and camaraderie between the applicant and a member. … It was not intended to demean or trivialize LGBTQ+ experiences in any way,” it read.

At that point in their application process, Avery complained to the executive committee about the post.

Applicants and members had avenues to express complaints within the organization like grievance forms and personally messaging or approaching a member of the executive committee. But Avery felt the org lacked in enacting reforms.

Of Avery’s demands to which the executive committee agreed, the executive committee had the offending applicant apologize verbally, but they did not supply a signed apology nor issue a memo to the applicants explaining that Avery was deferring their application because of the culmination of their unpleasant experiences.

Avery expressed that the latter condition was necessary since some tasks required the cooperation of the whole app batch or groups of applicants of which they were part.

Notably, the executive committee did not hold a gender sensitivity training either, despite Avery’s request.

At this point, effecting reform internally had reached a dead end, leaving only external and authoritative bodies like the chancellor or college dean with the ability to properly implement or, at least, guide changes.

For one, attending relevant activities like gender sensitivity trainings is one of the alternative correct measures that may be imposed upon an organization if formally charged with sexual harassment, per the ASH Code.

Avery tried to move past the ordeal after they deferred their application. But on one particularly difficult day—which soured further after some GPs members taunted them while bragging about ripping some application forms—they realized that no reforms had been made, and they finally decided to file a report to OASH.

Challenging Complaint

Avery expected their last two years in their degree program to be grueling ones, but they did not expect the additional weight of the long and bureaucratic process of the system they chose to have faith in.

Under a recommendation by the ASH Council after its hearing, GPs’s application process was temporarily suspended, as confirmed by the organization in an email exchange with the Collegian.

This was as much as GPs told the Collegian, citing confidentiality as the reason they could not discuss elements of the case itself.

During the period of the app process suspension, Alex and Avery said that students generally thought that the measure was imposed because a student drew a penis next to the org’s logo on a window panel.

Neither Avery nor any of the other anonymous witnesses could have clarified the matter since the ASH Code has a confidentiality clause. Under this clause, parties, including complainants, cannot publicize a case lest they face disciplinary action, even if their case has already been trapped in limbo for an extended period of time.

The suspension was eventually lifted after GPs laid down their proposed revised application process to OASH. Some of the amendments included codifying guidelines for the application process, clarifying expectations for member behavior and conduct, and standardizing internal review processes.

GPs also said that the OASH case was dismissed and attached a certificate of no pending case from the office, issued Jan. 13.

But in fact, the case has not been dismissed, as confirmed by one of the anonymous witnesses, and it has already been elevated to the chancellor, who can either dismiss it or issue a formal charge. This implies that the preliminary investigation by the ASH Council found probable cause to pursue the sexual harassment charge.

Organizations cannot be tagged with a pending case, since the ASH Code limits accountability only to individuals. This technicality is why Avery was asked to reframe their OASH report to address GP’s executive committee during their application process, two months after submitting their initial report.

Now, nearing 10 months from Avery’s initial filing of the OASH complaint, the case is facing yet another obstruction: It has been sitting at the chancellor’s desk for nearly two months.

The same story goes for all OASH cases involving student organizations awaiting either a formal charge or dismissal from Diliman’s head office, as confirmed by OASH in its interview with the Collegian.

Closing In

Though the results of the sexual harassment complaint are still uncertain, the college-level org misconduct case could be nearing its close.

College of Engineering Dean Maria Antonia Tanchuling recently affirmed the findings of the CDC that the org had violated the Student Code provisions on harm to persons and misconduct, and the Anti-Hazing Law.

Per the dean’s decision—a copy of which was again reviewed by the Collegian with the permission of a source close to the case—GPs’ accreditation as a student organization will be suspended for one semester. It will also have to issue an apology letter to the complainant and a reflection letter to the dean detailing their refined plan for the application process.

It will also have to issue an apology letter to the complainant and a reflection letter to the dean detailing their refined plan for the application process.

The organization may still file an appeal, pursuant to Section V.3.6.13 of the 2012 UP Diliman Code of Student Conduct.

But notably, the dean did not adopt CDC’s recommendation that the organization issue a public statement apologizing for harm caused by their application process.

Should the dean’s decision finally come into effect, this will at least be one door closed for the victims, though one that hardly signifies the end of the process for Avery, as the OASH complaint is yet to be concluded and GPs itself has yet to face sanctions.

“I will not let my pain go down merely as collateral,” Avery said. “This is not just about seeking justice for myself but ensuring that no one else has to endure the same pain, exploitation, and humiliation.” ●

*Not their real names. They asked the Collegian to conceal their identities due to the sensitive nature of the article.

To report incidents of sexual harassment, you may fill up this incident form from OASH, or contact the office through their email at oash.upd@up.edu.ph or Facebook at www.facebook.com/updilimanoash for further assistance.

First published in the June 19, 2025 print issue of the Collegian.