Students protest presence of Marcos scion in forum

DISSENT Participants in an online forum organized by the Commission on Higher Education change their display names while the prerecorded speech of Ferdinand Alexander “Sandro” Marcos plays. —PHOTO FROM TWITTER ACCOUNT OF AKBAYAN YOUTH CHAIR RAYMOND JOHN NAGUIT

BAGUIO CITY — The Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) in the Cordillera has again received flak from students for an online forum that triggered another round of protests after the grandson of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos was invited as a speaker.

Gabriel Siscar, vice chair of the student council of the University of the Philippines Baguio, said they took offense over the CHEd’s move to let Ferdinand Alexander “Sandro” Marcos speak about a topic that tackled the “role of the youth in nation building” during the forum on Tuesday.

Sandro, 27, and son of presidential aspirant Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., has also joined the political race, having filed his certificate of candidacy (COC) for representative of the first district of Ilocos Norte province on Thursday.

Speech

Sandro’s five-minute prerecorded speech was played during the forum, which prompted some of the participants to change their display names to “Never Again” and “#MarcosMagnanakaw” as a form of protest. Some used the display names of slain activists and student leaders Archimedes Trajano and Edgar Jopson (EdJop), who were among the victims of Marcos’ martial rule.

“The Marcoses still refuse to own up to the gross human rights violations during martial law where thousands of Filipino youth were tortured and killed, and billions of [pesos in] public funds stolen,” Siscar told the Inquirer in a phone interview on Thursday.

He said this refusal of the Marcos family was evident in the attempt of Sandro’s father to seek the presidency and Sandro’s own bid for a congressional seat in the Marcoses’ home province of Ilocos Norte.

‘Shocked’

In an interview with reporters in Laoag City when he filed his COC on Thursday, Sandro said those who protested during the CHEd forum had the right to free speech.

Sandro said only 20 students, or around 2 percent of the 1,000 participants, joined the protest, citing the figures from the organizers of the event.

He said he was shocked to learn about the incident only in the news because he did not personally attend the online forum.

“I am still glad that there were 98 percent of the participants who did not change [their display names],” said Sandro, adding that he had already grown accustomed to political criticisms and negative comments thrown at him and his family regarding the martial rule of his grandfather.

But he said there was “no point to bring back” the past.

The Inquirer tried to reach CHEd officials in the region but calls were not returned on Thursday.

Last month, some Cordillera students also staged an online protest against the CHEd for facilitating a two-day webinar that led to “an outright Red-tagging” of youth groups. —WITH A REPORT FROM JOHN MICHAEL MUGAS