The Philippine Collegian

The Philippine Collegian is the official weekly student publication of the University of the Philippines Diliman. It is also commonly known to the university's students as Kulê (Tagalog: [kʊˈleʔ]). It is known for its radical, national democratic, often anti-administration views, and gives critical views on the policies of the UP administration and the Philippine government. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, however, the Collegian has suspended its print operations, and has fully migrated to its online and other digital platforms.

Philippine Collegian
Front page on August 21, 2017
TypeStudent publication
FormatTabloid
Editor-in-chiefKimberly Anne P. Yutuc
Associate editorSamantha M. Del Castillo
Founded1922
1917 (as Varsity News)
1910 (as the College Folio)
Political alignmentLeft-wing
LanguageEnglish, Filipino
HeadquartersKamia Residence Hall, Quirino Avenue, University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines
Websitewww.phkule.org

History

First known as the College Folio (1910) and Varsity News (1917).[1] As the College Folio, it was one of the first undergraduate journals in the Philippines.[2] The Philippine Collegian was officially established in 1922. Since then, it has become a symbol for academic freedom, critical thinking, and journalistic integrity and excellence.[3] In 1935, the Collegian published Teodoro Agoncillo's review of Ricardo Pascual's book Dr. Jose Rizal beyond the Grave, despite threats of excommunication from the Catholic Church. And in 1951, editor in chief (EIC) Elmer Ordoñez exposed the government's intervention in UP affairs, particularly in the aftermath of UP President Bienvenido Gonzalez's resignation. That period also saw the accommodation of the Filipino language in its content. During the post-war years, the Collegian became increasingly progressive in tackling university-based issues, particularly on “secretarianism” and favoritism in the administration. Despite the widespread conservatism, which equated nationalist sentiments with “communist threats,” the Collegian continued publishing articles from socialism to the Hukbalahap movement.

During the Japanese Occupation, the Collegian was largely silent, since many of the university's units were shut down. In 1946, the Collegian resumed publishing, maintaining an anti-colonialist perspective.[4] The 1950s brought to fore issues of academic freedom in the University, heightening the clash of beliefs between the Collegian, the University administration, and the national government. Then EIC Homobono Adaza, for example, was expelled for an editorial criticizing the UP administration.[5]

Articles on the emergent revolutionary movement gained ground in the 1960s, complementing the rise of the student movement against the dictatorship of then President Ferdinand Marcos. During Martial Law, the Collegian defied the media blackout by going underground. The publication formed the radical press together with the other student publications such as the Ang Malaya of the Philippine College of Commerce, now Polytechnic University of the Philippines and Pandayan of Ateneo de Manila University and the publications of various national democratic groups.[6] By the time Martial Law as declared in 1972, the Collegian's nationalist orientation was already established. The publication continued to operate underground, exposing realities that were vastly different from what was presented by government-controlled media. Subsequently, several Collegian staff, including Enrique Voltaire Garcia and Antonio Tagamolila, faced imprisonment and death. While the regular Collegian headed by EIC Oscar Yabes in 1973 headlined UP President Salvador P. Lopez's campus beautification project and weekly UAAP updates, the Rebel Collegian decried the 20-percent tuition hike and the dissolution of student institutions like the Office of Student Regent and the UP Student Council. The Rebel Collegian issues brought to the fore the students' demand for lower tuition and dorm rates, among others, while "taking up the oppressed masses cause in exposing the corruption, servility, and violence of our semi-colonial and semi-feudal society." Meanwhile, the regular Collegian of then EIC Oscar Yabes served as a diversionary propaganda tool with its emphasis on counter-revolutionary literary pieces, with nary a critique of the atrocities under the US-Marcos regime. Yabes would also later come under fire due to his alleged malversation of the newspaper's funds.[7]

The paper remained vigilant even after the collapse of the Marcos regime. In the 1989 editorial “EDSA and UP--Three Years After,” EIC Ruben Carranza, Jr. noted that “social injustice and foreign domination” remained entrenched in Philippine society. In the euphoria following the end of People Power, this viewpoint was decidedly unpopular.[8]

The conflicts experienced by the Collegian, however, were not entirely external. Power struggles and challenges in editorship roused many controversies in the past. For instance, the Rebel Collegian came into existence in 1996 after the epic battle between Voltaire Veneracion and Richard Gappi, rivals for the EIC post that year.[9] The UP community saw two contending Collegians—Gappi's Rebel Collegian and the regular Collegian under Veneracion. The articles in the Rebel Collegian in 1996 bore no byline, although it was an open secret that Gappi led the publication's operations. The newsprint became an arena of the opposing camps from the ideological rift that characterized the Left movement then. On the one hand, Veneracion and the editor before him, Ibarra Gutierrez, espoused social democratic politics, Gappi and most of his colleagues from former EIC Michael John Ac-Ac's staff embraced national democracy. Unfailingly and unapologetically, the Rebel Collegian of the nineties expressed stances that may be deemed "hardline" and carried on the nationalist struggle, which the then regular Collegian abdicated.[7] The 1990s spurred additional internal disputes as staffers and editors fought to assert competing philosophies. For instance, EIC Herbert Docena's pluralism, which sought to accommodate all ideologies without making a stand, was pitched against advocacy journalism, which entailed the formulation of a clear stance on issues. [9]

At the height of the campaign against the 300 percent tuition hike, then UP President Emerlinda Roman insisted on a public bidding for the Collegian's printing press, based on a flimsy interpretation of Republic Act 9184 or the Government Procurement Act, and thus withheld funds for four months—the publication's longest hiatus yet since World War II. This crisis compelled then EIC Karl Castro's staff to unleash Rebel Kulê, to continue to rally the students against Roman's skewed policies. Unlike the prior Rebel Collegians, Castro's was the first to wage mutiny against the UP administration aboveground and from within the institution whose authority it sought to subvert.[7]

Since the ouster of Marcos during the EDSA Revolution, the Collegian has regularly undergone changes in format, withstood controversies regarding the selection of its editors, and remained a critical voice as part of the alternative media.[10]

Collegian Editors-in-Chief
  • Francisco Capistrano, 1923–1924
  • Emerito M. Ramos, 1930–1931
  • Wenceslao Q. Vinzons, 1931–1932
  • Ambrosio Padilla, 1932–1933
  • Arturo M. Tolentino, 1933–1934
  • Armando de J. Malay, 1934–1935
  • Romeno S. Busuego, 1937–1938
  • Renato Constantino, 1939–1940
  • Angel G. Baking, 1940–1941
  • Delfin R. Garcia, 1941–1942
  • Juan M. Hagad, 1946–1947
  • Mariano V. Ampil, Jr., 1947–1948
  • Leonardo B. Perez, 1948–1949
  • Augusto Caesar Espiritu, 1949–1950
  • Elmer A. Ordonez, 1950–1951
  • Francisco D. Villanueva, 1951–1952
  • Ignacio Debuque, 1952–1953
  • Crispulo J. Icban, Jr., 1953–1954
  • Luis Q. U. Uranza, Jr., 1954–1955
  • Sabino Padilla, Jr., 1955–1956
  • Jose H. Y. Masakayan, 1956–1957
  • Homobono Adaza, 1957–1958
  • Pacifico Agabin, 1958
  • Caesar Agnir, 1958–1959
  • Andres G. Gatmaitan, 1959-1960
  • Leonardo Quisumbing, 1961–1962
  • Angelito Imperio, 1962–1963
  • Tristan Catindig, 1963–1964
  • Salvador T. Carlota, 1964–1965
  • Enrique Voltaire Garcia II, 1965-1966
  • Ancheta K. Tan, 1965–1966
  • Agustin Que, 1966–1968
  • Jaime J. Yambao, 1967-1968
  • Temario Rivera, 1967-1968
  • Nelson A. Navarro, 1968-1969
  • Miriam P. Defensor, 1968-1969
  • Victor H. Manarang, 1969–1970
  • Ernesto M. Valencia, 1971
  • Antonio S. Tagamolila, 1971
  • Reynaldo B. Vea, 1971–1972
  • Eduardo T. Gonzalez, 1972
  • Teodoro D. Yabut, Jr., 1972
  • Oscar G. Yabes, 1972–1974
  • Emmanuel F. Esguerra, 1974–1975[11]
  • Diwa C. Guinigundo, 1975-1976 (1)[11]
  • Abraham Sarmiento, Jr., 1975–1976 (2)[11]
  • Cosme Diaz Rosell, 1976–1977
  • Alexander Poblador, 1977–1978
  • Diwata A. Reyes, 1978–1979
  • Malou Mangahas, 1979–1980
  • Roberto Z. Coloma, 1980–1981
  • Roan I. Libarios, 1981–1982
  • Napoleon J. Poblador, 1982–1983
  • Raphael P. Lotilla, 1983–1984
  • Benjamin Pimentel, Jr., 1984–1985
  • Noel Pangilinan, 1985–1986
  • Dean Karlo La Vina, 1986–1987
  • Ma. Cristina Godinez, 1987–1988
  • Patrocinio Jude H. Esguerra III, 1988–1989
  • Ruben Carranza, Jr., 1989–1990
  • Francis Ronald Perez, 1990–1991
  • Alexander Pabico, 1991–1992
  • Pablo John Garcia, Jr., 1992–1993
  • Bernard Cobarrubias, 1993–1994
  • Michael John C. Ac-ac, 1994–1995
  • Ibarra M. Gutierrez, 1995–1996
  • Voltaire Veneracion, 1996–1997
  • Lourdes C. Gordolan, 1997–1998
  • Jeanie Rose Bacong, 1998–1999
  • Seymour Barros-Sanchez, 1999–2000
  • Herbert V. Docena, 2000–2001
  • Duke M. Bajenting, 2001–2002
  • Ellaine Rose A. Beronio, 2002–2003
  • Sherwin A. Mapanoo, 2003–2004
  • Jayson DP. Fajarda, 2004–2005
  • Juan Paolo E. Colet, 2005–2006
  • Karl Fredrick M. Castro, 2006–2007
  • Jerrie M. Abella, 2007–2008
  • Larissa Mae R. Suarez, 2008–2009
  • Om Narayan A. Velasco, 2009–2010
  • Pauline Gidget R. Estella, 2010–2011
  • Marjohara S. Tucay, 2011–2012
  • Ma. Katherine H. Elona, 2012–2013
  • Julian Inah G. Anunciacion, 2013-2014
  • Mary Joy T. Capistrano, 2014-2016
  • Karen Ann A. Macalalad, 2016-2017
  • Sanny Boy D. Afable, 2017-2018
  • Sheila Abarra, 2018-2019[11]
  • Beatrice P. Puente, 2019–2020
  • Kimberly Anne P. Yutuc, 2020-present

Notable alumni

References
  1. Valenzuela, Jesús Z. (1933). History of Journalism in the Philippine Islands. Jesús Z. Valenzuela. p. 22. Retrieved 2008-05-30.
  2. Chee, Tam Seong (1981). Essays on Literature and Society in Southeast Asia. National University of Singapore Press. p. 148. ISBN 9971-69-036-5. Retrieved 2008-05-30.
  3. "History of the Philippine Collegian". mickeyjagger.tripod.com.
  4. "History of the Philippine Collegian". mickeyjagger.tripod.com.
  5. "History of the Philippine Collegian". mickeyjagger.tripod.com.
  6. Franco, Jennifer Conroy (2001). Elections and Democratization in the Philippines. Taylor & Francis. p. 105. ISBN 0-8153-3734-5. Retrieved 2008-05-30.
  7. Cornelio, Richard (September 21, 2018). "This is not your regular Collegian". Rebel Kule.
  8. "History of the Philippine Collegian". mickeyjagger.tripod.com.
  9. Dela Cruz, Ma. Rosa Cer (June 13, 2008). "Penned Dissidence: The Philippine Collegian's Tradition of Defiance". Philippine Collegian.
  10. "History of the Philippine Collegian". mickeyjagger.tripod.com.
  11. "Philippine Collegian Editorial Exam – UPD Office of Student Projects and Activities".
  12. "Biography of Senate President Drilon - Senate of the Philippines". www.senate.gov.ph.
  14. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2007-08-20.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  15. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2005-09-01. Retrieved 2006-04-25.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  16. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-03-29. Retrieved 2007-01-09.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  17. "Sheila Coronel - Journalism - Philippines - Worldpress.org". www.worldpress.org.
  18. "Pinoy Weekly", Wikipedia, 2020-08-04, retrieved 2020-08-26
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