Features

Besieged but Unbroken: Defending Campus Press Freedom in the Face of Tyranny and Oppression

By Carlos Villena | August 30, 2024

BESIEGED— is the state of our country's freedom of the press. In 1986, the framers of the Constitution went to great lengths to enshrine our freedom to speak up and speak out, to let our voices be heard. So isn’t it the peak of irony that Republic Act 11699, which made National Press Freedom Day a law, was signed into effect by then-President Rodrigo Duterte, the would-be authoritarian who censored the free press throughout his tenure, mobilizing state agents to silence dissenting voices, red-tagging journalists and declaring them enemies of the state? 

     Yet just as professional journalists fight to keep the people's voices heard, students of various student publications stand at the forefront of defending campus democracy and campus press freedom.

Press Freedom Under Attack

     Campus press freedom is the cornerstone of any campus democracy, just as the free press is the cornerstone of any democratic society; as soon as a free and democratic society censors the free press, then that society is no longer free nor democratic. Student journalists stand at the forefront of that fight to keep our learning institutions open and free to discourse, knowledge, and ideas.

     The Campus Journalism Act of 1991 was signed into law by then-President Corazon Aquino, promoting the awareness and development of student journalism in the country. Still, the Act falls short of holding institutions of higher learning and government agencies accountable to the students the Act calls for them to protect. In May of this year, Rappler reported that from 2010 to 2020, over 1,000 reports of campus press freedom violations were logged, with students crying foul over how both school administrations and the government itself are at the helm of the assault on campus press freedom.

     According to Rappler, students were reported to have been asked to tone down their reporting, forced to conform to a set of guidelines to protect the school’s image, and even forced to take down photos published online. Between 2023 and 2024 alone, the College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP) recorded 206 campus press freedom violations, ranging from withholding funding to state surveillance.

     Duterte’s animosity towards the free press was a direct assault on democracy; former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. was no friend of the press, while his son, the incumbent Marcos Jr., is yet to prove himself but seems keen on following his predecessor’s example, albeit to a less visible degree. The Philippines ranks 134th in the press freedom index out of 180 countries this year, a sorry improvement from 2022’s 147th place at the end of Duterte’s term. This puts us in the same “Difficult” category as the State of Israel and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, countries noted for the suppression of free speech and repression of the free press. Difficult is the 4th lowest in Reporters Without Borders's 5-rung ladder of press freedom. As college is the final preparation for life outside of campus, learning to defend and fight for democracy and freedom starts inside the halls of our institutions of learning. 

Government Action or Inaction?

     While student publications face mounting problems, the Philippine government has yet to be without action. There are bills in both houses of Congress that aim to repeal and strengthen the provisions of the current Campus Journalism Act. The two bills in each house are known as the Campus Press Freedom (CPF) Bill. Cong. Raoul Danniel Manuel of the Kabataan Partylist authored the bill pending in the House that was received in July 2022, while Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. authored a nearly identical bill of the same name which the Senate received in November of the same year.

      On July 29, 2024, members of the CEGP appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Higher and Technical Education, the committee responsible for the CPF Bill in the House. The CEGP urged the House to immediately pass the bill to codify student publications’ funding sources and prevent government agencies from withholding financial support. On August 28, 2024, the Manila Collegian, an official student publication of the University of the Philippines Manila, published an article detailing the actions of state agents in Tacloban City to silence a student demonstration that resisted budget cuts, campus militarization and demanded the release of political prisoners. “When a student was manhandled, forced to the ground, and ended up in handcuffs, a tense silence followed,” the article recounted. “Right then, it became clear — terrorizing the people with threats, intimidations, and excessive force was how they kept Tacloban ‘tahimik’ all these years.”

     The proposed changes to the 1991 law provide for the enlargement of protections granted to student publications and student journalists, including expanding the law to guarantee the independence of student publications and the autonomy of their finances. The proposal likewise empowers the government to investigate and sanction school administrations that violate the bill's provisions, including offenses like the harassment or interrogation of student journalists and the censorship of published material. While these proposals add much-needed value to an otherwise outdated law, neither of them has progressed to become actual legislation.

United Front

     Joining student publications nationwide, as the official student publication of SBCA, The Bedan Herald stands at the helm of the defense of campus democracy and press freedom in the College, but the fight to keep campus democracy and press freedom alive involves the collective vigilance of all organizations like CEGP and all student publications united in the common resolve that the free press must remain free from censorship and harassment to hold accountable those in positions of influence who have the capacity to abuse power granted to them by the people. In the face of tyranny and oppression, we must stand together and present a united front to defend the freedom of the press.