Principled disagreement and anonymous black propaganda: A challenge

Over the past few days, I have been receiving reports of anonymous efforts to bring down Alex Castro in the race for USC Chair. As a fellow candidate and in behalf of UP ALYANSA, I wish to voice my strongest condemnation against these malicious attempts.

The campaign is a time not just to show off each candidate's and each political party's strengths and victories, but also a time to educate and to engage in a healthy, passionate, and principled discourse.

In the earlier part of this week, members of ALYANSA made a principled disagreement with Alex Castro's citation of wrong information on the sin tax law. Rooted in our advocacy to make this campaign more about platforms and less about personalities, we demanded an apology from Alex Castro and a retraction of the misinformation that the 15% allocation for tobacco farmers has been stricken off the sin tax law. To this day, we have not received any apology or retraction; so, our principled disagreement and demand continue.

But when a supposed screenshot of an alleged chat conversation between Alex and a "friend" cropped up, I was personally disappointed. Today, a perverted statement entitled "Sex Will Fix" was released in different areas in campus.

These are exactly what ALYANSA has been campaigning against. While we make sure to maintain our principled disagreement with Alex Castro and KAISA on the level of issues and platforms, efforts like these serve as roadblocks to our dream of an informed student body.

The anonymity of these efforts reveals exactly their purpose: Nothing more than to regress to personality politics and blur this campaign into becoming a pageant of reputations rather than clear platforms. I personally challenge the people behind these efforts to come into the open and make a principled choice to inform, rather than to maliciously attack. I challenge the people behind these to reveal their identities and the USC Chair candidate they support, if any, so the students may decide for themselves what to make of the propaganda.

As student leaders, it is our duty to inform and shape the debates in campus to become a discourse of principles, integrity, ideology, and platforms. This campaign is not about me; it is not about Alex Castro's alleged chat messages or motives. This campaign is about the students and their right to make an informed choice on their next University Student Council.

Carlo Brolagda
ALYANSA USC Chairperson candidate
February 20, 2013

Abusing the Right to Free Speech: A Response to the Death Threats Directed to USC Chair Heart Diño

UP ALYANSA strongly condemns the death threats directed to USC Chairperson Heart Diño.

Heart Diño, being the Chairperson of the University Student Council, is a public figure to the student body. She has the right to act and voice her opinions in her personal capacity, yet her actions will always be subjected to public scrutiny. Recently, her actions and opinions have received such criticisms and contentions. We respect this circumstance but for several cases it has gone too far: certain people have threatened to hurt or even kill her. These cases exceed what is warranted as free speech or opinionated criticism. These threats of violence must not be tolerated.

The first few death threats came immediately after Heart’s election as USC Chair. Although these threats were made online, they must not be taken lightly. For one, a certain Rey Refran is calling for others to participate in her assassination. The violent tone is evident as he threatened to “plant a bullet in her” and even offered to personally “be the hitman”. Aside from these, several comments also attack Heart on the aspect of her gender, referring to her derogatorily. Such violent and despicable statements cannot be accepted. Although we exercise the right to free speech, this right must be exercised responsibly; criticism can be reasonably presented without violence or prejudice towards any person's gender, race, beliefs, etc.

As Iskolars para sa Bayan, we cannot condone such threats of violence. We must be careful to ensure that the criticisms we present are sensible and sensitive, not promoting violence or hate.

What is your stand regarding the leadership crisis in the University Student Council?

ALYANSA believes that being a student leader is commendable, as one who chooses a life of service to his fellow students often sacrifice for their good. In seeking student empowerment, which is one of our core principles, student leaders sacrifice their time, effort and even money in order to pursue causes that are bigger than themselves. For those reasons, we thank our student leaders, regardless of their political affiliation or color, because they heeded the call to serve.

Nonetheless, being a student leader also means having to set a higher bar for oneself, in order to cope up with the demands of being a STUDENT, and being a LEADER. None has to be sacrificed, if one is to be up to the task of being a student leader. Hence, if a student leader manages to sacrifice his academics, to the point of academic delinquency, he does a disservice, to the students that he serves, and the nation that provides for his education.

Let us be clear that this issue regarding the leadership crisis in the University Student Council is NOT PERSONAL. It is an issue of principles, of holding oneself accountable. If the University Student Council is still bent on upholding the USC Chairperson's tenure, in spite of clear rules mandating that he relinquish his post, they are squandering their integrity and moral ascendancy. True enough, some colleges have already expressed their position for the USC Chairperson to resign, else they will not recognize the Council as a truly representative body.

We reiterate our call for our USC Chairperson to uphold honor and excellence. We call on him to muster his courage, do the right thing, and resign from his post. To do nothing less is not a shame, but a badge of integrity.

What has ALYANSA done regarding the UP budget cuts?

Caption: This reply by Rep. Maricar Zamora is one of the letters we have received supporting our call to oppose the budget cuts to UP and other State Colleges and Universities.

ALYANSA has always stood for accessible, quality and relevant education. As such, with the current state of our tertiary education sector, budget cuts to UP and other State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) do serious harm to the effort of providing such education. We recognize that opposing budget cuts, in solidarity with other groups and sectors of the UP community, as well as the whole tertiary education sector, is the way to ensure accessible, quality and relevant education.

As a formation, ALYANSA has encouraged its members to attend the student strike last month, as a way of recognizing that this issue transcends political affiliations and party lines. More importantly, as a concrete way of addressing this issue, ALYANSA, led by its Vice-Chairperson for Student Rights and Welfare (VC STRAW) Will Del Rosario, has trooped to the House of Representatives and the Senate to lobby and present its position against the budget cuts. With its actions, ALYANSA demonstrated its principle of progressive multi-perspective activism, one that is willing to work beyond political affiliations and party lines, and recognize other forms of participating in issues.

Some are asking about ALYANSA's advocacy to include a Staff Regent in its UP Charter campaign. Could you clarify this?

Once more, ALYANSA thanks the individuals who want to clarify the issue of our participation in the UP Charter campaign. The interest generated by this matter proves our commitment to keep our elections at the level of issues. 

To answer the question, let us go back to ALYANSA's commitment to revise the UP Charter. Back in 2003, ALYANSA was the only formation to have taken a definite stand to revise the UP Charter proposals. While we did not see eye to eye with the UP Administration (who wanted to pass the pending bills at the Senate then), and some student groups (who wanted to junk it entirely), ALYANSA took the approach of pushing for progressive provisions by revising the proposed bills.

One such provision is the inclusion of a Staff Regent, consistent with our principle of genuine sectoral representation in our highest policy-making body. With other progressive provisions, ALYANSA pushed for their passage by supporting a counterproposal pushed by its USC leadership back in 2004. The formation, as well as the USC, participated in Technical Working Groups organized for the purpose of passing a new UP Charter bill. Until its signing to law in 2008, ALYANSA was the only formation who participated in the painstaking process of passing the UP Charter, by issuing a definite stand on the matter, as well as initiating efforts to lobby for the passage of its progressive provisions.

In the end, we could say that this is progressive multi-perspective activism at work. Even as we don't necessarily agree with our counterparts, we engage them in substantive debate. Even as we encounter the imperfections of our institutions, we do not just complain --- instead, we forward progressive and reasonable alternatives. 

ALYANSA claims to have advocated revisions for the UP Charter. What are those revisions?

The UP Charter is an important document, being a guide to the University as its most basic set of rules and regulations. As an institution celebrating more than a hundred years of existence, it has recently revised its Charter as a response to changing times. As a case in point, the original UP Charter mentioned the "Governor-General" of the Philippines --- a throwback to American rule, which highlighted its outdated nature.

Way back in 2003, when efforts to change the UP Charter were met by some student groups with knee-jerk condemnation, ALYANSA led the University to a more rational debate even as it differed with the UP Administration on fundamental issues. Instead of immediately calling for the junking of the UP Charter, ALYANSA called for key revisions that would make the Charter pro-student and pro-University. Some of these key revisions are the following:

1. Affirming UP's nature as a National University, which enshrined the government's moral responsibility to maintain UP as an institution;
2. Reducing Malacañang appointees to the Board of Regents (from five, it is down to three), and including a Staff Regent, in order to maximize sectoral participation in the University's decision-making;
3. Allowing the University to productively use its idle assets, subject to conditions that would preserve its integrity as an institution;
4. Enshrining student rights by explicitly stating the requirement for student councils, a General Assembly of student councils system-wide, and the selection of a Student Regent.

These revisions found its way into the 2008 UP Charter, which ALYANSA first championed back in 2003, carried by its ALYANSA-led USC in 2004, and followed up by the formation until its passage in 2008, with ALYANSA leading the USC's helm.

This present UP Charter forms one of ALYANSA's enduring legacies to building UP's institutions, through a painstaking commitment for reform and progressive change. Even as we recognize the imperfections of our institutions, and the fact that we don't see eye to eye with our counterparts, we are committed to upholding substantive debate, realizing the gains that we could achieve in the process.

Someone told us about your founding faculty adviser’s issue as regards your choice of standard-bearers this year. What do you say about this?

The essence of inviting the UP community to a partnership of principle, embodied by our call “Kasama Ka”, is to demonstrate our ability to build bridges amidst differences.

The real test of any invitation comes when it is met by a different response than what you originally hope for. Differences in position have always existed WITHIN, and AMONG parties in campus. We believe that it is an opportunity, not a setback. In this light, and consistent with being open to each other, we remain hopeful that any differences we have will be settled in the near future.

For the meantime, we remain committed to the task at hand -- that is, to communicate that ALYANSA’s brand of leadership remains the most relevant to students and the UP community.

-----

Stories have been floating about a different account of the party’s selection process for this year’s standard-bearers. There are even other stories about the party in general. What is your take on it?

In a mature democracy, parties are vehicles for spirited yet civil debate, in the hope of ensuring lively participation in the political process. While parties certainly have differences AMONG its members, they come together as one in the pursuit of their principles. Parties, while valuing openness, also operate on the basic trust that their members would be promoting the party’s ideals.

Hence, “very reliable sources” claiming to “represent” a party, while issuing statements that are clearly detrimental to its well-being, must be first subjected to skepticism. It is easy to issue statements under the cloak of anonymity, but it is even harder to substantiate these without consulting the parties themselves.

We dare these “independent” sources to substantiate their claims, and come out in the open in order for these issues to be threshed out. True, we may not agree with the other parties in campus most of the time, but we believe that ALL THREE OF US be treated fairly and with respect.

Iskolars For Truth

As we approach the University Student Council elections, it is important that we talk about our issues in a candid manner, without resorting to mudslinging towards our opponents.

This site is our formation’s honest effort to answer misinformation, and elevate our electoral discourse to issues, rather than lies and defamation. Here are some of our candid answers to pressing issues.

Dito sa ALYANSA, kasama ka sa pagiging kritikal.

-----

Someone from ALYANSA once said, “napapanahon na ang tuition increase…” Is that true?

Related to the proposal to reform the STFAP or the tuition bracketing scheme, ALYANSA has always stood by its principle of SOCIAL JUSTICE. Applying social justice to the tuition bracketing means that those who could afford more in life should be able to share with the burden of studying in UP, in order to extend the University's limited means to poorer, more deserving scholars.

If SOCIAL JUSTICE meant raising the tuition of those who could afford more, and indeed can SHARE THE BURDEN more, so that the deserving could continue to enjoy their subsidies, then it’s a principled and practical solution. However, it doesn’t stop there. Ultimately, efforts must be undertaken in order to ensure that the University’s bracketing system maximizes the subsidies given to deserving scholars.

-----

ALYANSA did not field a College of Arts and Letters Representative to the USC. Someone even said that ALYANSA saw no “electoral opportunity” in CAL, hence the result of not fielding a candidate. What do you say about that?

Fielding candidates to the University Student Council are both questions of principles and logistics. We field candidates who share ALYANSA’s passion for leadership with values. Our members, on the other hand, do their best to nominate students who can be tapped to lead the next USC.

We fully realize that there is no shortage of students who share ALYANSA’s passion. However, we would be candid in saying that we are not a perfect party, and we have our own shortcomings. Nonetheless, we try our best to represent students in every college through our principles -- embodied by our volunteers and members who are in EVERY college, sharing our passion and values.

“Electoral opportunity” or otherwise, our principles remain our motivation. It is the reason why ALYANSA remains to be the best alternative to the USC, for majority or not, we remain the most hardworking party offering the broadest range of services to our fellow students.

-----