Kabataan Partylist Rep. Renee Co condemned attempts to silence students who have been at the forefront of the fight for social justice and against corruption, especially since the onset of the flood control scandal.

By Jian Martin Tenorio

Progressive lawmakers under the Makabayan bloc  filed House Bill No. 11678, or the Academic Freedom Act on Monday, October 12, a bill seeking to defend academic freedom.

The bill came after recent attacks on academic freedom, such as the suspension of four University of Santo Tomas (UST) student activists for protesting against a campus exhibit by the Philippine Air Force (PAF) and the red-tagging of students and faculty members of the University of the Philippines Rural High School (UPRHS).

In her statement, Kabataan Partylist Rep. Renee Co condemned attempts to silence students who have been at the forefront of the fight for social justice and against corruption, especially since the onset of the flood control scandal.

“Discipline offices and military propaganda must not be used to silence students who are simply asking questions about and wanting to stop state abuse,” the statement read.

The bill, which adopts the 2024 UN Draft Principles for Implementing the Right to Academic Freedom and the 2026 Special Rapporteur Report on Youth Activism, seeks to impose imprisonment and fines on violations of academic freedom, such as militarization of campuses, infiltrating student organizations, filing disciplinary punishments against students who engage in peaceful political dissent, and enacting threats and violence against members of the academic community,

Furthermore, the three lawmakers also filed House Resolution No. 1541condemning the red-tagging perpetrated by former National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) spokespersons Lorraine Badoy and Antonio Parlade and other actors related to NTF-ELCAC against students and faculty members of UPRHS and the UP Los Baños (UPLB) College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) Department of Humanities.

These attacks came after UPRHS’ commemoration of the UP Day of Remembrance during the 54th anniversary of the declaration of Martial Law on September 21.

Read: Badoy red tags UP Rural High School teacher, community

The resolution also cited the red-tagging of a Facebook page misusing the name of UPLB Perspective against campus journalists, student leaders, and administrative officials of UPLB.

Read: UPLB decries systematic red-tagging of constituents

Additionally, the Makabayan bloc filed House Resolution No. 1540, which condemns the profiling, surveillance, and intimidation of officers of the Philippine National Police (PNP) against members of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT)-Region V Union in Camarines Sur.

In line with the Supreme Court’s ruling on red-tagging as a threat to life, liberty, and security, the resolutions call for an investigation of the said cases and the crafting of legislative measures to defend students’ rights and academic freedom. (AMU, RVO)

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