Communists and the UP presidency
If the next UP President is not a communist or a red sympathizer, then the communists may be hard put to exploiting UP campuses and resources, and may lose their traditional source of recruits.
Daily TribuneIf the next UP President is not a communist or a red sympathizer, then the communists may be hard put to exploiting UP campuses and resources, and may lose their traditional source of recruits.
The Board of Regents of the University of the Philippines is expected to elect a new UP President this December to succeed the incumbent, Danilo Concepcion.
As expected, the communists are eyeing the UP presidency. They want either a communist or a radical to seize power in UP.
The communists have so much at stake at UP.
For one, communists use the UP campuses for recruiting young, gullible college students to do away with their schooling and join the local communist movement. Recruitment is done stealthily through campus organizations, dormitories, and boarding houses.
In many instances, faculty members themselves pave the way for the recruitment of unsuspecting students.
The new, brainwashed recruits are then directed to fight it out with military operatives in remote areas of the country. Many are killed and return home in makeshift coffins.
No wonder many parents with financial means are not too keen on sending their children to UP. They spent years raising their kids to become successful graduates, only to end up shortchanged by the communists.
Next, UP campuses offer a haven for anti-government rallies and radical symposia. Most of these activities do not require a permit and are often done using UP facilities free of charge. Holding an activity inside a UP campus also gives that activity a disputable semblance of intellectual respectability.
Communists in UP also bask in the knowledge that the UP administration does not allow pro-government rallies, events, and gatherings inside the UP campuses, especially in UP Diliman where its Chancellor, Dr. Fidel Nemenzo, is said to have zero tolerance for pro-government activities.
In September 2018, UP President Concepcion had to apologize to the UP faculty for gracing a party of retired "alumni" of the Kabataang Barangay held at a venue in UP Diliman. Many faculty members were furious with Concepcion simply because the KB was a youth group in the 1970s headed by Imee Marcos, who is now a senator.
Imagine that! The UP President was forced to apologize for doing something which was well within his rights to do.
UP campuses also host many "safehouses" for communist cadres. That is why many UP students insist that policemen should not be allowed inside UP campuses, on the non sequitur excuse that the presence of law enforcers in UP, even in public places inside the campus, violates the academic freedom of UP.
Communist influence among many UP students is obvious.
There was a time when Budget Secretary Florencio Abad was physically assaulted by radical UP students after they heard Abad defend the government in an academic forum at the UP School of Economics.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s sister, Irene Marcos-Araneta, was almost manhandled by radical UP students who found out that she was inside Palma Hall in UP Diliman to watch a play.
The pastor of a Christian sect that held a service inside a rented venue in UP Diliman was almost beaten up by intolerant UP students after the pastor quoted a Biblical passage that states that homosexuality is a sin. Good grief!
If the next UP President is not a communist or a red sympathizer, then the communists may be hard put to exploiting UP campuses and resources, and may lose their traditional source of recruits.
That is why the communists are working hard on getting either a communist or a red sympathizer installed as the next UP President. The reds have everything to lose if their control and influence in UP dissipates.
One candidate for UP President is reportedly an ally of the radicals.
Another candidate was a member of the UP Board of Regents when UP gave up land in UP Diliman for the controversial martial law museum that will glorify the communists who fought martial law in the Philippines in the 1970s and the 1980s.
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. should not allow the communists to get their man installed as UP President.