Protest assembly on Friday not sanctioned —Ateneo

The administration of the Ateneo de Manila University said it was aware of the protest assembly organized by youth protesters in front of the gates of its Loyola Heights campus on Friday,  but did not sanction the activity.

“Ateneo de Manila is aware of a protest assembly scheduled today, Friday, 20 November 2020, set to begin at the gates of the Loyola Heights campus,” the university said in a statement.

“Please be aware that this protest activity and the one held last 17 November are not in any way sanctioned by the University,” it added.

A video on Super Radyo dzBB showed the youths calling for an academic break to recover from the effects of the consecutive typhoons as well as to protest the shortcomings of the Duterte administration in handling the calamities and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The combined death toll from typhoons Rolly and Ulysses was recorded at almost a hundred.

Meanwhile, fatalities due to COVID-19 were recorded at 8,025.

Last week, over 500 Ateneans called for a mass student strike to protest what they called was the government’s “criminally neglectful response” to the devastation caused by Typhoons Ulysses and super typhoon Rolly and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The group also pledged to “withhold the submission of any school requirements starting November 18, 2020 until the national government heeds the people’s demands for proper calamity aid and pandemic response.”

In response, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said that students who called for a mass academic strike will fail and will not be able to graduate.

Meanwhile, the Department of Education said that while it understood the call for an academic break following the typhoons, there is a required number of days in the school calendar according to the law.—Joahna Lei Casilao/LDF, GMA News