PANAY Alliance Karapatan welcomes the passage of the Aklan Students’ Rights and Welfare (STRAW) Ordinance by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Aklan on July 15, 2026. It is a significant step toward institutionalizing the protection of students’ rights and democratic participation in the province.
Grounded on the 1987 Constitution, and international human rights standards, the ordinance recognizes that students do not surrender their constitutional rights upon entering their schools. Instead, it provides a local framework that enables secondary and tertiary students to assert and defend these rights within educational institutions.
The ordinance affirms students’ rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, information, privacy, due process, and academic freedom. It likewise recognizes students’ rights against campus militarization, to a healthy and safe learning environment, to fair academic procedures, and to the protection of their intellectual property.
Equally important, it establishes mechanisms for implementation through the creation of a Students’ Rights and Welfare Committee under the Provincial School Board, the United Student Councils Association of Aklan (USCAA), an annual Student Leaders Congress, and the institutionalization of Aklan Students’ Day every November 17.
While the ordinance represents an important advancement for student rights, Panay Alliance Karapatan notes that some provisions were toned down, particularly those concerning the autonomy and protection of student organizations, councils, and publications, as well as safeguards against the forced waiver of students’ rights. These remaining gaps highlight the need for continued advocacy to ensure that the full scope of students’ constitutional and democratic rights is recognized and protected.
The passage of this ordinance is particularly significant in Aklan, where students, youth organizations, and other democratic sectors have long faced intimidation, red-tagging, and harassment by state security forces and the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC). The ordinance’s recognition of students’ right against campus militarization is an important safeguard against military and police interference in educational institutions and contributes to preserving campuses as spaces for learning, critical thinking, and democratic engagement.
Nationwide, the Aklan STRAW Ordinance joins the Cagayan de Oro STRAW Code as among the very few local measures specifically protecting students’ rights and welfare. Its enactment demonstrates that local governments can take concrete action to safeguard students even as the proposed national Students’ Rights Bill continues to languish in Congress.
Panay Alliance Karapatan calls on local government units throughout Western Visayas and across the country to adopt similar ordinances that uphold students’ democratic rights and strengthen accountability mechanisms within educational institutions. We likewise urge Congress to finally enact the national Students’ Rights Bill to establish uniform protections for all Filipino students.
At the same time, we reiterate the call to dismantle the NTF-ELCAC, whose persistent red-tagging, vilification campaigns, and attacks against students, youth organizations, educators, and human rights defenders continue to undermine the very rights that this ordinance seeks to protect. Genuine quality education can only flourish where democratic rights are respected and fear and repression have no place in schools. – PANAY ALLIANCE KARAPATAN <panaykarapatan@gmail.com>
