BulSU to NTF-ELCAC: Don’t equate respect for free speech with sympathy for anti-gov’t groups

The Bulacan State University (BulSU) on Wednesday joined the chorus of schools denouncing certain officials' claims that they are recruitment havens for communist or armed rebel groups, reminding the government that freedom of speech is “guaranteed to every person.”

BulSU was among 38 schools that National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) spokesperson Lorraine Badoy alleged are hotspots for recruitment into the Communist Party of the Philippines or New People’s Army. 

“We remind the Undersecretary and NTF-ELCAC that the expression of opinion in controversial topics and criticism of societal wrongs are inevitable products of learning,” BulSU said in a statement. 

“The respect accorded by the University to free expression must neither be equated as tolerance to a certain group's ideology nor be mistaken as a sympathy towards a group that aims to overthrow the government,” it added.

The university underscored that while it “celebrates progressive ideas of its community, it has and will never support any movement that is aimed at the violent overthrow of the government.”

BulSU also expressed willingness to engage in “productive discourses” with the government and other organizations to help achieve peace.

Several other universities earlier objected to their inclusion in the NTF-ELCAC’s controversial list. 

The Integrated Bar of the Philippines, for its part, said government incompetence, corruption, and oppression are the true “nesting grounds for dissent or even armed struggle against government” and not schools. — Julia Mari Ornedo/BM, GMA News