MANILA, Philippines — Participants hijacked a webinar organized by the Commission on Higher Education-Cordillera Administrative Region (CHED-CAR) on Tuesday to protest the involvement of Sandro Marcos, a grandson of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, as a speaker in the online congress.
During the airing of Marcos’ prerecorded speech on “redefining the role of youth in nation-building,” participants changed their display names to #NeverAgain, #MarcosMagnanakaw, and martial law victims like Archimedes Trajano and Edgar Jopson.
Akbayan Youth chairperson RJ Naguit, who tweeted the photos of the online protest, said Sandro is “neither a representative of the youth nor has the credibility to talk about nation-building.”
Awww. Ayaw nila ng participative audience? Sad. #MarcosMagnanakaw #NeverAgain pic.twitter.com/ZVU1sURZMK
— RJ Naguit 🌹 (@docrjnaguit) October 5, 2021
Naguit also criticized CHED-CAR for providing a platform to Sandro, who recently revealed his decision to run for the congressional post of Ilocos Norte’s first district in 2022.
“It’s disappointing that the Commission on Higher Education provided a platform to this junior dictator whose only interest is to rehabilitate their family’s political power,” he said.
The online protest happened on the same day that Sandro’s father, former senator Bongbong Marcos, announced that he will run for president in next year’s elections.
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