Militant groups scared of contrary opinion

Campuses should be marketplaces of ideas where students should hear and examine diverse political ideologies and ideas

The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) yesterday reiterated that claims by militant student organizations of government’s alleged militarization and martial law in the University of the Philippines System are figments of their imagination on overdrive.

DILG Undersecretary and spokesman Jonathan Malaya said such remarks coming from the militant student organizations are classic communist propaganda, which uses the “politics of fear” to portray government as a repressive monster.

He said they do this in order for them to earn “political ‘pogi’ points” from students in order to “arouse, organize and mobilize” the youth sector.

Malaya said by claiming that colleges and universities are off limits to the police, militant student organizations are, in fact, curtailing the right of every student to hear both sides of the issue.

“The militant student organizations are, in fact, saying that only their ideology or point of view is welcome here and any attempt to weaken their hold on the discourse or introduce other points of view is ‘militarization,’” Malaya said.

“Campuses should be marketplaces of ideas where students should hear and examine diverse political ideologies and ideas, so they can make informed decisions on issues affecting them,” he added.

At the same time, he challenged militant student organizations in UP to adapt to the changing times and come up with new slogans for a change.

He said the DILG is perplexed why student militant organizations would claim “militarization” or “martial law,” when there are no plans to transform schools into military camps or even police camps.

“The proposal of DILG Secretary Eduardo Año is very clear. It’s to send police officers to schools to do dialogues with school administrators and students, not bringing the power of arms, but bringing the power of facts, argument and information,” Malaya said.

“Why are they so afraid of contrarian points of view? Isn’t that what academic freedom is all about? This only proves that they do not really believe in academic freedom but are really concerned about controlling the discourse in schools, so that they can continue active communist recruitment,” he added.