Samasa

22/08/2026

Comrades, please sign up on September 22 and ask your families and friends to sign the people’s initiative petition at Dapat Isa Lang website - www.D1L.com. Let’s do this!


https://positiveactivism.blogspot.com/2026/08/up-samasa-alumni-association-launches.html

QUEZON CITY, August 21, 2026, Friday — The UP SAMASA Alumni Association has launched “ Pirma at Pagasa ,” a volunteer-driven signature cam...

21/08/2026

21/08/2026

UP SAMASA Alumni Association Launches “Pirma at Pagasa” Campaign, Mobilizes Youth, Multi-Sectoral Reps Against Political Dynasties

https://positiveactivism.blogspot.com/2026/08/up-samasa-alumni-association-launches.html?fbclid=IwY2xjawT1C1xwZG9mBWV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkEDIyMjAzOTE3ODgyMDA4OTIAAR65NN5tq3O5QFmRm61hFHgOc5nVJmA9J-A3Ie2vxCwot1uXuBQWAIbsndJkHA_aem_LzbZf4olr9HdYb3bMxgibg

QUEZON CITY, August 21, 2026, Friday — The UP SAMASA Alumni Association has launched “ Pirma at Pagasa ,” a volunteer-driven signature cam...

21/08/2026

AUGUST 21, 2026
PRESS STATEMENT

Reference:
Karl Patrick Suyat
Co-founder, Project Gunita
[email protected]

TO HONOR NINOY, WE MUST REJECT MARTIAL LAW’S RETURN

How paradoxical it is that, on the eve of our national commemoration of the 43rd year of Ninoy Aquino's brutal assassination, there are certain politicians who advocate a return to the dark years of Martial Law under the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr., ostensibly in the name of enforcing the law.

We are appalled by their statements. We strongly suggest that they revisit our history to avoid churning out stupid and miseducated statements.

Martial Law was never a “good news” for our nation, then and now. Martial Law was the ultimate distortion — pambabaluktot — of our laws. Martial Law was the abject disappearance of the rule of law. It was no other than the rule of the sword, of the bayonets, that slaughtered our own citizens.

In 1972, Marcos Sr. imposed Martial Law under the pretext of growing mayhem and a rising communist insurgency. But, far from clipping down so-called threats against the Republic, his martial rule did the opposite: it worsened violence and division in this country because his Martial Law was a rule of abuse of power, plunder, human rights violations, coercion, and naked state oppression.

That is why Ninoy Aquino came home, despite risking his own life in the process: To unite the Filipino people in dismantling the Marcos dictatorship.

That is why the people, from the 1970s to 1986, rose up in numerous forms of uprising — until our efforts culminated in the EDSA People Power revolt: To tell the dictator that enough was enough. "Sobra na, tama na, palitan na!"

If these politicians wish to see the real image of Martial Law, they must look beyond Voltes V. The face of Martial Law could be seen in the face of Ninoy Aquino after he was murdered — bludgeoned, bruised, and battered. The iron-fist rule of Martial Law can be gleaned through the broken, tortured, shattered souls of the tens of thousands of Filipinos who were arrested, massacred, disappeared, executed, and terrorized by Marcos Sr., his military and police goons, and his entire fascist machinery. The horrors of Martial Law could be heard from the wailing cries of families, children, parents, spouses, and friends who were torn apart because of Martial Law's atrocities and corruption.

As if to rub salt on old wounds, the ferocious machineries of the Marcos martial law regime had never left. Batasang Pambansa 880 is still used to stifle mass actions. Activists, journalists, and human rights defenders are still imprisoned on false charges, as it was under Proclamation 1081. The same military and police officers who dastardly killed Ninoy are still killing our countrymen, as in the case of the 19 people—including activists and organizers Alyssa Alano, Maureen Keil Santuyo, Errol Wendel, Kai Sorem, Lyle Prijoles, and journalist RJ Nichole Ledesma—who were executed in Toboso, Negros Occidental last April.

Our country’s situation today, under the rule of the late dictator’s son, somehow makes us feel as if Martial Law did not leave.

Ninoy Aquino came back to continue the people's struggle for freedom and democracy. To honor Ninoy Aquino, on the 43rd year of his martyrdom, we must reject any and all attempts to reimpose Martial Law in our land, especially not at a time when Ferdinand Marcos Jr. sits in Malacañang.

Martial Law at the behest of Marcos Jr., the unrepentant son of the murderous and thieving dictator, or any of the Duterte children is a solid road to perdition.

Let history be our guide. Close to two decades of Marcos Sr.’s Martial Law caused irreparable damage to our nation that we continue to grapple with. If we bring it back—as Marcos Jr. was brought back to power—we might as well bury our national dignity and self-respect. A return to Martial Law will mean nothing but the further destruction of our nation. We should not surrender ourselves to such a bleak future. #

14/08/2026

EDJOP OFFICIAL POSTER #3

The love and generosity of brilliant artists for this film keeps coming at an astonishing rate.

We are honored to have the work of Tom Estrera III be part of this tribute series of posters for EDJOP.

Tom is a graphic and visual artist whose work has moved across film, documentary, publishing and socially engaged art.

For a film about Edgar Jopson, during a period in our history when young people dared to imagine a different Philippines, having Tom interpret his story felt especially meaningful. In his words:

“When I was invited to design a poster for the film, the director had one request: to make Edjop the primary subject.

For me, he had to be portrayed as a militant activist whose life was devoted to the struggle of the oppressed.

In the film, Edjop’s daughter Joyette, is a central figure through whom we come to know and remember him. I chose to place her within Edjop’s silhouette, suggesting a bond that extends across time, despite the absence of shared memories.

The design is my tribute to Edjop’s life and legacy, and to the film’s intention not only to remember him, but to keep alive the ideals he fought for and the people he chose to stand with.

The title design is based on handwriting I found on one of Edjop’s mugshots. I wanted to carry a small, intimate trace of him into the present.

Ultimately, the poster is my way of saying that Edjop is remembered not only because he was taken from us, but because the struggle he gave his life to remains unfinished.”

Maraming, maraming salamat Tom.
❤️💯🔥🇵🇭

EDJOP opens September 16, in cinemas nationwide.

14/08/2026

“What can one man do?”

He had no army, no following, no money—only an indomitable spirit. From the courage of one came the courage of nation.

This August 21, we remember Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr.—his life, his sacrifice, and his unfaltering faith in the Filipino people.

Join us for Holy Mass, 10:00 AM at the Manila Memorial Park, Sucat, Parañaque City.

19/07/2026

𝗣𝗔𝗚-𝗔𝗟𝗔𝗟𝗔: 𝗪𝗘𝗡𝗖𝗘𝗦𝗟𝗔𝗢 𝗩𝗜𝗡𝗭𝗢𝗡𝗦

Ngayong araw inaalala ang anibersaryo ng kamatayan ng Filipinong lingkod-bayan, aktibista, lider ng gerilya, at martir na si Wenceslao Q. Vinzons. Si Vinzons ay isa sa mga unang Filipino na nag-organisa ng kilusang gerilya laban sa mga Hapones noong World War II. Dahil dito, siya ay pinaslang ng mga Hapones sa pamamagitan ng pagbayoneta noong July 15, 1942.

Isinilang noong September 28, 1910 sa Indan, Camarines Norte, isa si Vinzons sa mga unang Filipinong nag-organisa ng kilusang gerilya laban sa mga Hapones noong World War II. Nagtapos siya ng abogasya mula sa Unibersidad ng Pilipinas at nagtapos bilang 3rd placer sa 1933 bar examination. Naging kasapi rin siya ng Upsilon Sigma Phi at naging editor ng Philippine Collegian. Nakilala rin siya dahil sa kaniyang husay sa pakikipagdebate maging sa pangunguna sa ilang demonstrasyon kasama ang ilan niyang mga kamag-aral. Bago ang pagputok ng World War II sa Pilipinas, nagsilbi si Vinzons bilang pinakabatang delegado sa 1934 constitutional convention na siyang bumalangkas sa 1935 Saligang Batas ng Pilipinas. Naglingkod rin siya bilang kinatawan ng kaisa-isang distrito ng Camarines Norte, mula 1941 hanggang 1942.

Nagawa ni Vinzon na makabuo ng kilusang binubuo ng higit 2,800 mga gerilya sa Camarines Norte. Dahil dito, naging pursigido ang mga Hapones na dakpin si Vinzon. Sa edad na 31, pinaslang ng mga Hapon si Vinzons, sa pamamagitan ng pagbayoneta, sa Daet, Camarines Norte noong July 15, 1942 dahil sa kaniyang pagtanggi na manumpa sa katapatan ng Japanese Empire.

Bilang pagkilala sa kaniyang kabayanihan, ipinangalan sa kaniya ang isang bulwagan sa Unibersidad ng Pilipinas, ang Vinzon Hall. Siya rin ay binansagang ‘the Father of Student Activism in the Philippines’.

Icatlo, Abel. (October 1, 2019). Wenceslao Q. Vinzons, Filipino exemplar. Retrieved from https://opinion.inquirer.net/.../wenceslao-q-vinzons...

14/07/2026

STUDENTS PROPOSE REFORMS; VIRATA LECTURES ON GOV'T, PROJECTS

By Fe B. Zamora
Mr & Ms Special Edition
July 13, 1984

"YOUR demands tend to diverge rather than coverage to a solution." Prime Minister and concurrent Minister of Finance Cesar E.A. Virata admonished the motley crowd of college students who had invited him to a luncheon dialogue at the Asian Institute of Tourism in Quezon City on July 5.

"Since you are training for leadership, put yourself in a leadership position so your demands have a focus. You have so many demands . . . [but] these do not go together." Cool, but no longer hiding his miff, the unsmiling Minister dropped the irritant: "As I have observed in this dialogue, the students come late. I've been here for an hour already."

It was Round One in the planned series of government-student dialogues, and already, it was clear who was going to call the shots. The students, from the University of the Philippines led by Student Council Chairman Leandro Alejandro, with 30 other students in tow, came at 2 p.m. from their own press conference at the U.P. campus.

The dialogue came as an offshoot of the student sector's semester-long protest plan against what they brand as "government irresponsibility." The students have stacked up their indignation over the rising cost of education, militarization, the economic impositions of the U.S.-controlled IMF-WB, Amendment 6 as well as the other isms which have rocked the student front since the 60's. Their efforts to be heard, they said, have fallen on deaf ears.

Last May, in a dramatic reenactment of the First Quarter Storm, UP students were ready to put up a barricade at Diliman if the 169 per cent tuition fee were imposed. They won but the storm didn't die down. "Even if they do not increase the tuition fee, the cost of education is still very high," Leandro Alejandro thundered at an Ugarte Field rally. His rationale: the cost of living has gone up. "We will never allow ourselves to be used as scape goats."

In a fervid attempt to "be heard," some 7,000 students led by Alejandro marched to Malacañang last June 28. The lean student council chairman said the march was staged to dramatize their indignation. He said they had sent three letters to the President, and had made phone calls. They had also invited the President to come to UP, since the students couldn't enter the Palace. "But the President has turned down our invitation. He does not even answer our phone calls." So far, the only reply students have successfully elicited from the President was the presidential remarks on the students' choice of words which he described as "not concise and elegant."

Settling down to the brasstacks of the dialogue, the latecomers led by Alejandro went direct to the point and presented their objectives for the dialogue: 1) prosper the initial exchange of opinions regarding current issues; 2) present the students' resolutions and queries with regards to specific issues; and 3) ask the Minster to facilitate the presentation of their demands during the march to Malacañang on July 6 (see related story, pp. 20-22).

"Why is Philippine education restructured towards the interest of the World Bank?" Marichu Lambino, former president of the College Editors Guild of the Philippines and now with the National Union of Students of the Philippines, asked.

"Precisely, that's what the President mandates," Virata replied. "I do not like it. Whatever good thing we do, it's always related to the IMF. We will lose respect if we think this way. This is not the case. What we are trying to do is improve the system, then others will help us. That is the basic government approach."

The WB is not as bad as the students see it, Virata added. In fact, the first WB loan went to the UP in Los Baños.

Andrei Tuazon, chairman of the UP-LB student council, spoke up. "We at the UP-LB are also pressing for reforms. We feel that the agriculture curriculum is but a marketplace of fertilizers, pesticides and farm equipment produced by the multinationals." Virata, like the teacher (at UP, too) that he was once, lectured: "What's interesting in a university is to learn first rather than brand . . . A plant doesn't need fertilizers because of the multinationals. That is jumping to conclusion by association. That is not what education is all about."

What then is education all about? "If it's so important, why was the government's subsidy to UP cut down by 43% (as stipulated in the 1983 Letter of Intent)?" asked Loudette Almazan, vice-chairman of the UP-SC. "Why not re-channel military funds to education?" pressed Liza Pulgado of UP-Manila. "Why not improve social services (instead of military)?" came Lambino again.

Virata has all the explanations: "You should think in terms of the national economy. Have you conducted a study on the characteristics of Philippine economy? I don't like this memorization of facts . . . The defense budget always appears large because the police, as well as other government agencies (i.e. PAG-ASA, Coast Guard) are included, which should not be the case." Virata, however, stressed the government's objective to preserve the republic. "It's important in the Third World that we do not show any sign of weaknesses . . . We have many active neighbors . . . We have to secure the place first before we can undertake development."

The students pressed on with questions over the total foreign debt, where the money went, and a demand for explanation from the man whom the students said, is one of the key personalities, one of the main actors in today's economic fiasco. "You want raw data? the facts?" Virata asked.

"We do not need statistics to say that we are suffering," Alejandro replied. "You have access to the data, we are not privy to the formulation of monetary policies. But people are suffering and this should not necessarily be the case. We are not responsible for this crises. Why are we made to pay for [the] sins of others?"

The Prime Minister responded by reciting a litany of "government projects and achievements" which are "purely glossed over." He said: "We have to build bridges, irrigation systems, energy plants . . . If we did not do this, I could not imagine what food shortage we will suffer now, what energy shortage we will suffer now."

Alejandro asked: "Then why, despite all these meaningful government programs/projects are we still in crises now?"

"Because sometimes, the international environment is not kind to us. Sometimes, the weather is not kind to us," said Virata.

Things are easily said than done, the Prime Minister stressed. "What I'm trying to say is that if we are to resolve the problem[s],we should help each other."

How?

The Minister surmised: "Perhaps you can help by trying to consume less imported items, stop making heroes out of foreign personalities."

Alejandro pressed further on the student's desire for knowledge on the government's monetary policies. "Can we get primary documents, Sir (Letter of Intent, for instance)?"

"No," Virata said empathically. "These are state secrets." His answer caused rippled laughter from the students, some of whom, seated on the carpetted floor, unfolded a red streamer for the Minister to see.

Unfazed, Virata continue: "Why are school exams kept secret. You complain of leaks . . . That's a strategic concern."

There is no such thing as Filipinos living below the poverty line, he answered another question from the audience. "That's a concept developed by some institutions but which we don't apply here. It's easy for a person not to work and to claim that he is poor. There are many areas here which have employment opportunities but people reuse to work."

The Prime Minister was running out of time. He could only answer two more questions. Alejandro took to the Mike: "Can you help us, Sir, with our planned march to Malacañang tomorrow? even up to Mendiola Bridge only?"

"You say what you want. I say my side. In the end, you still say what you want," Virata snorted. "You are approaching the President in the wrong way. I don't think you will improve the atmosphere of national reconciliation . . . You can have your march, I have my functions to attend to."

"It's unfair to say we are both close-minded," Virata [disagreed] to Alejandro's statement that the administration refuses to listen to them. "We listen to you . . . Why did we lower the voting age? Why is the youth sector represented in the Batasan? The presence of the press makes us react differently." (The Prime Minister earlier insisted for a closed-door dialogue but the students wanted the press inside.) The youth got what they wanted, the Prime Minister chided media for playing up the student's demands.

The next day, the students marched to Mendiola.

14/07/2026

IN MEMORIAM: Leandro "Lean" Alejandro
(July 10, 1960 — September 19, 1987)

*****

COVER STORY

'WE ARE NOT SIMPLY ADVENTURIST YOUTH'

By Francoise Joaquin
Mr & Ms Special Edition
July 13, 1984

WHEN UP Student Council Chairman Leandro Alejandro shows up for an interview, a little over ten minutes late, it is with an apology for the delay. He has received word that a student mass action group, set to assemble Tuesday afternoon at Morayta, is to be teargassed by the military, and he has necessarily had "to attend to a few things."

Tall and lean with a solemn but amiable air, "Lian" does not sport the loud rhetoric or the towering stature assumed by the student leader stereotype.

The impression he gives even as he traipses about on slippers, is that of the son of a middle class family which he is. His accountant-father is working in Saudi and his mother, a teacher at the Tanza Elementary School in Navotas. But she is not, as one would readily presume of the mother of Lian, a member of the radical Alliance of Concerned Teachers. He celebrated his 24th birthday last Tuesday by picketing the Western Police District to protest that tear-gassing of students of Morayta on their way to Mendiola.

Lian lacks only six units in P.E. to obtain an AB degree major in Philippine Studies. His extracurricular concerns are far from scholarly and though mild and unassuming, his movements speak of grim determination.

The Friday before, canisters of the gas had effectively and painfully dispersed a crowd of over 5000 at Mendiola, and Lian grimly views the possibility of a repeat performance when the students face Malacañang again today with their demands. "We have the right, at the very least," he stresses, "to air our demands, and the military has no right to inflict violence against defenseless students."

His point, almost dramatic, is cause for not a little worry: "The violence will not come from us — we will be very peaceful; we will take precautions against any eruption of violence. But we will not allow them to indiscriminately hurt innocent people again." Denying rumors that the students are to come armed, he insists that the group's concern is "not how to fight back, but how to prevent" violence.

With this as target, Lian emphasizes the immediate need for a conscientization program. He elaborates, "We must air this publicly: that we are not simply adventurist youth, but are very serious about what we are doing and need [public] support." While counting on such sympathy to their cause as a major deterrent to military harassment, Lian cites more concrete precautions against unwanted violence: the use of plastic bags to envelop tear-gas containers, towels and handkerchiefs soaked in water and certain acidic substances (how does kalamansi sound?) to counter the chemical's alkaline base. And yet he hopes that the students will not be forced to resort to such measures: "Definitely if they hit us on Friday, it's going to escalate matters."

Serious and articulate, the student leader has not always been so militantly nationalist. "On the contrary," he recalls, "I was raised in a family that — with my father online particular — was pro-Marcos . . . I remember voting for the retention of martial law." In an earlier interview he described himself as a "typical martial law baby." For his elementary and high-school education, he went to St. James in Navotas. In college, critical of the UP Collegian, which he felt was "too political," Lian nevertheless decided to sign up for the school paper's features staff. Later, with a string of articles about demolition sites and the like to his name, he "discovered there was something wrong after all."

Three years ago, under SAMASA, a nationalist and democratic alliance of over 100 student organizations, Lian was elected president of the Student Council for the UP College of Arts and Sciences. That same year, hounded by the military, he went into hiding for eight months, during which he wrote a "farewell" letter to his family.

"I didn't want to get caught by surprise," he explains. "If anything did happen, I wanted them to know that I was thinking of them." Meeting first with Opposition from his home, then with fear for his safety, and finally with acceptance, Lian does not credit his experience as unique: "I guess for all young people like myself, at one point, [our families] realize that this is no fad; that this is a conscious decision; that we know what we're fighting for and are willing to make sacrifices."

He is hardly, he smiles, as "grim and determined" as he is made out to be: "Given a chance I'd just stay home and play chess, read in the afternoon, play a little tennis." But this tone, even in its lighter moments, is somewhat grave: "Maybe someday, when all the people can afford to play chess, and read in the afternoon, and play a little tennis, I'll do that. But right now, while people are being murdered and going hungry, it doesn't seem right to be playing chess."

Has he ever been accused of being a fanatic? "A fanatic, a subversive, a Communist," he laughs. And then is serious again as he deliberates, "Given the present political and economic situation, Marxism and Communism — or non-Marxism and non-Communism — should not be the bone of contention." What then should? "Sovereignty. Democratic rights. Social justice. Progress."

Asked whether he believes that egalitarianism is not literally and merely a utopian ideal, he replies, "I myself do not believe in equality in an absolute sense. I believe in equity — those who need more should be given more." The next question [is] obvious — who decides how much of what should go to whom? Lian underlines the importance of representation at the grassroots. The Batasan, he believes, fails to provide this. Describing the legislative body as "a creation of the dictatorship upon the recommendation of the U.S. government," Lian continues: "I do not see how we can use a tool of the dictatorship against it." The minority is limited in what it can accomplish: "More importantly, [the accomplishment] will be secondary, because the real battles are going to be fought in venues created by the people's protest movements, in institutions created by their struggles. If [the minority] recognizes this political reality, it could be even more productive."

Returning to the topic of fanaticism, Lian declares, "This is not a religion — dogmatic, inflexible to the point that your ideas are closed to reality." The point is pressed: is he not himself guilty of dogmatism? "Well, you can be flexible in tactics, in form; but in substance, there are fundamental things you will never compromise."

When the multi-sectoral protest group marches today to Malacañang, it will not compromise the objectives: "We will sit it out indefinitely." Then, if the administration still refuses to dialogue? "We will come back again and again — and again." And that, for Lian, is "launching a democratic struggle democratically."