The real threat comes from state policies and operations by the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) that silence ordinary citizens.

MANILA — The attacks on youth activists persist following a military-led seminar titled “Community Anti-Terrorism Awareness and Knowing the Enemy” held on July 2 at the Philippine Normal University North Luzon (PNU-NL).

According to The Torch-North Luzonian news article, the official student publication of PNU-NL, the seminar was attended by first year to third year students, and featured police officers from 205th Maneuver Company, Regional Mobile Force Battalion 2 (RMFB2) as resource speakers.

In one part of the lecture, the speaker showed photos of alleged dead members of the New People’s Army (NPA) and remarked, “Maybe you guys thought that’s a lechon.”

One of the speakers claimed that universities like the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP), University of Santo Tomas (UST), and University of the Philippines (UP) are breeding grounds for “rebels”. The speaker added that most rebels come from these universities due to the progressive, idealistic, and excellent nature of their students.

The report by the Torch-North Luzonian said that PNU-NL Executive Director and Provost Agnes S. Reyes initiated and requested the seminar. When asked by the campus publication on the purpose of the seminar in an interview, Dr. Julievic Palting, head of the Student Affairs and Services Unit, said that the seminar was organized to promote civic awareness and help students become more conscious of their actions as citizens.

The seminar was condemned not only by student-attendees but also by progressive youth groups. Anakbayan–PNU said that by cutting off the open forum and shutting down questions from students during the forum, the organizers proved their ulterior motive.

Anakbayan-PNU stressed that the seminar does not promote education as it aims to control the youth’s critical thinking and maintain a culture of violence and impunity. “It is deeply ironic and hypocritical that the very administrators who ought to protect the safety, academic freedom, and welfare of students are the ones orchestrating and opening the door to the militarization of the university. “

More cases

On June 19, state forces red-tagged progressive youth, students, and human rights defenders’ organizations in Barangay 4, Lucban, Quezon Province 

According to Kabataan Partylist (KPL)–Quezon, the forum was used as a front for “anti-insurgency”. The group warned that such state-sponsored labeling puts the lives and security of student leaders at risk.

In a statement, KPL–Quezon denounced the continuous profiling, surveillance, threats, and forced seminars conducted by the military and its intelligence units. They said that these are direct assaults on the youth’s constitutional rights to free expression, organization, and social participation.

The group questioned the entry of Southern Luzon Command (SOLCOM) into academic institutions. “The continuous collaboration and opening up of universities to military units or the SOLCOM is highly questionable, especially when it results in the entry of programs that promote red-tagging and intimidate students. Universities must remain safe spaces for free expression, critical study, and democratic participation—not battlegrounds for military operations and counter-insurgency propaganda.”

On May 31, the student alliance Rise for Education–SLSU (Southern Luzon State University) reported that state agents are gathering personal information of students who advocate for democratic rights.

Aside from profiling, the student alliance said that activists have been receiving threatening messages from suspected state-backed online trolls. Meanwhile, the military’s community-level “anti-insurgency” seminars continue to feature discussions that label legal mass organizations as terrorist fronts, generating widespread fear among youth and residents.

Supreme Court ruling and demilitarization

Red-tagging persists despite a landmark Supreme Court ruling in May 2024 which declared that red-tagging, vilification, labeling, and guilt by association constitute threats to a person’s right to life, liberty, and security and are sufficient grounds to seek legal protection through a writ of amparo.

“Schools and universities must remain safe spaces for free expression, critical study, and democratic participation,” KPL–Quezon said. “Participation in organizations pushing for student rights and welfare must never be a ground for surveillance or profiling.”

The group stressed that the real threat comes from state policies and operations by the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) that silence ordinary citizens.

KPL Quezon called for the immediate removal of military units from school campuses and urged the public to defend academic freedom against state-sponsored espionage and suppression.

Anakbayan-PNU vowed to continuously fight against the militarisation of universities and strengthen its resistance. “[I]n a time when the state’s use of its reactionary lapdogs is intensifying, let us all the more fuel the fight against the militarization of Philippine universities, further combat the ‘red-tagging’ by the reactionary state that hinders true education toward critical awareness, and continuously strengthen National Democratic Organizations in their organizing, studying of society, and mobilizing.” (AMU, DAA)