Hundreds of students at the University of the Philippines Diliman hold a protest action in front of Palma Hall against the hero’s burial of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos. —MARC JAYSON CAYABYAB
Around 2,500 students from the University of the Philippines Diliman, Ateneo de Manila University and Miriam College occupied Katipunan Avenue on Friday to protest the hero’s burial of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
On Twitter, the Metro Manila Development Authority estimated that around 2,500 students joined the rally aptly titled “Occupy Katipunan.”
At the Miriam and Ateneo crowd, the students held candles and placard that read “Busina para sa hustisya.”
When a student leader read the names of the Supreme Court justices who allowed the burial, the crowd chanted “Booo!”
Vehicles honked their horns as a sign of solidarity to the crowd and also to warn the protesters from getting hit.
Some drivers even stuck their fists out their windows as the UP crowd marched to Katipunan to join their neighbors in the academe.
At the UP crowd, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan secretary general Renato Reyes read out the names of the magistrates, to which the students chanted “Shame!”
Reyes slammed President Rodrigo Duterte for striking an alliance with the Marcoses and allowing the dictator to be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in the first place.
“Anong klaseng ‘change is coming?’ Anak ng tokwa! Makikipag-alyado ka sa pamilya ng diktador at tutulungan mo burahin ang kasaysayan at baguhin ang imahen ng diktadura?” Reyes said.
A student leader shouted to the crowd: “Akala ko ang magnanakaw sa gabi lang dumadating? Ito dumating tanghaling tapat, lumilipad pa!”
Marcos’ remains were flown in from Batac, Ilocos Norte, to the Libingan in Taguig City around noon.
At the program in front of the Palma Hall steps in UP Diliman, Chancellor Michael Tan sarcastically expressed his gratitude to the Marcoses if only for rousing the youth to take action.
“Nagpapasalamat kami sa mga Marcos at nagising muli ang kabataan,” Tan told the UP crowd.
Students from the Ateneo and Miriam crowd held posters bearing no flattering words for the dictator.
Slogans of “Make busina for hustisya,” “Marcos not a hero,” and “Libingan ng basura na si Marcos” adorned the side of Katipunan from Ateneo to Miriam.
The placards from the UP crowd were not in any way nicer.
Cuss words adorned the signs the students held as they marched to Katipunan.
“Pakyu Marcos,” one slogan on a carton read. Another one on a piece of bond paper read “Ukinam Marcos,” the Ilocano counterpart for the curse word “son of a bitch.”
A poster from the Ateneo crowd read: “Wax yan, hindi bayani,” referring to the wax figure of the dictator in his mausoleum in Batac.