To prevent a Marcos win, old UP student groups urge Alan Cayetano to 'give way' 

Without naming their preferred vice presidential candidate, alumni of rival student political parties of the University of the Philippines joined forces to urge Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano to "give way" and prevent a win for Sen. Bongbong Marcos.

In a press conference on Friday, the groups called on Cayetano, a former UP student councilor, to concede from the vice presidential race to prevent Marcos from winning.

The groups said Cayetano, who is running alongside Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, should just support their candidate so the votes will be undivided. They did not name the candidate they are supporting.

Recent Pulse Asia and Social Weather Stations surveys showed Marcos taking the solo lead in the surveys.

He is followed by Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo and Senator Chiz Escudero, who are statistically tied at second place.

Cayetano is at fourth place while Senators Gringo Honasan and Antonio Trillanes IV take the last two spots.

The groups, which created a petition page on Change.org, urged the public to prevent a Marcos win as they recounted how many people from UP were victims of Martial Law.

“Many from UP were martyred in the long night before freedom, but they are remembered and honored. In memory of these fallen UP heroes, and in the name of our sons and daughters, and the generations yet to come, we now take a stand against the ongoing campaign to erase the horrors of the dictatorship and martial law from the national memory,” the groups said.

The groups were composed of members of the Sandigan Para sa Mag-aaral at Sambayanan (Samasa) and the Nagkakaisang Tugon (Tugon), which were active in the 1980s.

In the statement, the groups also condemn the attempts to whitewash the Marcos regime’s “unrelenting violation of human rights, abuse of power, and plunder of the public coffers”.

Samasa and Tugon also vowed to remind people about the real facts and lessons from the Marcos dictatorship.

They said they will urge fellow UP alumni, especially those involved in the elections, to take a strong stand against the abuses during Martial Law.

They also pledged to resist attempts to give Marcos' father — the late President Ferdinand Marcos — a hero’s burial at Libingan ng mga Bayani. -- VVP, GMA News