Student Movement in the Philippines (1965–1972)

The nationwide student demonstration that took place on January 26, 1970 proved how militant student organizations had achieved a high level of organization and commitment from its followers. The violent demonstrations that would extend to March of that same year would become known as the First Quarter Storm.[2]

On January 30, 1970, some 10,000 chanting students and laborers marched across Mendiola Bridge in an attempt to storm the Malacañang. Upon their arrival at the gates of the palace, they commandeered a fire truck and rammed it through the main gate. Despite their efforts to penetrate the palace, the Metropolitan Command (METROCOM) of the Philippine Constabulary repulsed them towards Mendiola Bridge.[2]

Primitivo Mijares, in The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos, recounts that what followed was the so-called "Battle of Mendiola" that pitted young boys and girls, armed with bamboo sticks and stones, facing Armalite-wielding 'shock troops' of Marcos from the Presidential Guard Battalion. "It was a massacre," he adds.[4]

The Diliman Commune was a nine-day uprising at the University of the Philippines-Diliman from February 1 to February 9, 1971. It started out as a peaceful rally in which students voiced their support for the ongoing strike against the oil price hike and escalated into an uprising in which students, supported by the school administration, protested against military incursions into the University.[6]

On August 21, 1971, four grenades were hurled at the stage of the Liberal Party's grand miting de avance at Plaza Miranda in Quiapo, Manila, killing nine and wounding 95 others. A great number of the Party's leaders and senatorial candidates were seriously injured.[7][8]

This caused a great wave of public outrage and sparked disgust towards a system that seemed to tolerate senseless acts of violence. This prompted Marcos to suspend the writ of habeas corpus a month later. It was restored on January 1972, with talks of an imminent revolution already rife.[7][8]

The military used the suspension of the write of habeas corpus to their advantage to arrest well-known activists such as Luzvimindo David of KM and Gary Olivar of the Movement for a Democratic Philippines (MDP) and swoop down on headquarters of several mass movements.[2]

The people responded by vigorously opposing the threat of a fascist rule. Led by Jose W. Diokno, an enormous alliance of civil libertarians, progressive Constitutional Convention delegates, students, professionals, workers came together to form the Movement of Concerned Citizens for Civil Liberties (MCCCL).[2]

Their three basic demands were as follows: a) lifting the writ of habeas corpus; b) release of political prisoners; and c) resistance of plan by Marcos government to declare martial law.[2]

The alliance proved to be successful as they managed to forge unity among diverse groups such as those from the 'Nat-Dem' and 'Soc-Dem' groups as well as various civic organizations on the bases of these demands. In rally after rally attended by as many as 50,000 people, the MCCCL warned of the imminence of martial law even as the writ of habeas corpus was eventually restored. It held the biggest demonstration on September 21, 1972...”[2]

As far back as the 1950s, the University of the Philippines has been the breeding ground of many intellectuals and radical activists.[9] It comes as no surprise, then, that in the 1960s and 1970s, the university played an active role in conducting demonstrations, marches, and rallies to raise awareness of sectoral struggles and to campaign against the Marcos dictatorship and land reform policy, among others. Some of the clear examples of the school's activism include the ratifying of the Diliman Declaration on March 1969.[10]

Student activists from the university stirred up the masses of youth and the working class to conduct protest actions, from the March 1961 demonstration of 5,000 UP student demonstrators that scuttled the anti-communist witch hunt of the Committee on Anti-Filipino Activities (CAFA) to the 1970 First Quarter Storm that rocked the National Capital Region with almost weekly marches and rallies of 50,000 to 100,000 people campaigning against the administration.[7][11]

In 1971, students who formed the "Diliman Commune," supported by faculty members and non-academic personnel, occupied the Diliman campus and barricaded roads to protest deteriorating conditions in the country during the administration.[12][13]

Salvador P. Lopez, then president, urged his students, faculty, and employees to maintain the autonomy of the university as the military sought control of the campus in order to identify suspected leftists, activists, and critiques.[7]

Several activists from the Ateneo de Manila University (AdMU), most notably Edgardo Gil "Edjop" Jopson, founder of the single biggest student union at the time, National Union of Students in the Philippines (NUSP) and Ferdidand "Ferdie" Arceo, founder of Ligang Demokratiko ng Ateneo (LDA), played vital roles in campaigning to overthrow the dictatorship. Among the other well-known activists from the university are Lazaro "Lazzie" Silva, Jr. and William "Bill" Begg, active members of Samahang Demokratiko ng Kabataan sa Loyola (SDK-L) and Kabataang Makabayan-Ateneo (KM), respectively, and Artemio "Jun" Celestial, Jr., a member of the Student Catholic Action and the secretary-general of the student government.[14][15][16]

Ferdie, together with like-minded students in AdMU, established LDA in 1970, the first radical activist organization in Ateneo. Members conducted discussion groups, recruited students, advised student leaders, and created a space for dialogue among members of the student body. Eventually, LDA split into two separate organizations, SDK-L and KM.[14]

During the NUSP's 13th annual conference in 1969, Edjop was elected as president. When delegates returned to Manila, they led a huge rally in front of congress; all while President Marcos was delivering his State of the Nation Address (SONA).[14]

Under Edjop's two-term tenure, the National Union became participative in socio-political issues amidst the First Quarter Storm that brought forth the Second Propaganda Movement.[14][17]

At the De La Salle University, then De La Salle College, student activists clashed with the school administration over matters involving the Brother Becker Case, NROTC, tuition fees, and student rights and academic freedom. The activists questioned the elitist orientation of the institution and campaigned for a more nationalistic education.[18]

The prevalence of the affluent was one of the issues that was brought up in the 1960s; it was a question of whether the "wide-cross section of the public" could be "represented." Questioning why a Philippine institution had an administrator who was American, textbooks that were written by foreigners, and instruction that was done in English, student activists urged the administration to adopt a "more nationalistic" stance. Included in this was their call for the "Filipinization of education" by ousting non-Filipino presidents of schools, colleges, and universities, and appointing qualified Filipinos to head the institutions in their place.[18]

On Friday afternoon of December 6, 1968, more than 600 students held a four-hour demonstration to show their support for Brother Edward Becker FSC who was dismissed by the College. They circulated leaflets which divulged the imputations hurled against Becker.[18]

This case provided the students the opportunity to voice their concerns regarding academic freedom as well as student rights. Arthur Aguilar, Student Council chairman, eventually managed to steer the dialogue away from the Becker case, in a meeting with Brother H. Gabriel Connon FSC and Dr. Waldo Perfecto, academic vice-president, on December 8, 1968 during the feast of the Immaculate Conception. He declared that the "issue was only incidental and the Becker case was merely a catalyst, the 'final straw' so to speak which ignited student protest over school policies."[18]

On July 17, 1971, some 600 cadets refused to attend an NROTC drill, with their refusal stemming from their dissatisfaction with the present NROTC system as well as their protest against the hazing of Shore Patrol trainees by probationary officers. The Student Council backed this boycott in a resolution.[18]