AS I pointed out in a previous column, we seem to have a bumper crop of “useful idiots” these days. Our colleges and universities — particularly the University of the Philippines (UP) and, more recently, the University of Santo Tomas (UST) — appear to have their fair share of individuals who enthusiastically embrace political causes without necessarily understanding the complexities and consequences of what they are supporting.
Hmm… it seems the usual suspects — the woke crowd and pseudo-communists, otherwise known in my book as “useful idiots” — have run out of slogans. Now, they are shouting “Free Palestine!” How quaint! And when you throw “Queers for Palestine” into the mix, the ideological contradictions become even more glaring.
Indeed, foolishness knows no bounds. But that is another story.
For now, let us turn our attention to the latest controversy in what I would call L’Affaire UST.
The University of Santo Tomas has ordered the suspension of four student activists and the removal of its Central Student Council (CSC) public relations officer (PRO) following an administrative complaint filed by the Philippine Air Force (PAF) over a protest against its on-campus exhibit last April.
According to resolutions released weeks after the students attended a hearing before the UST administration, a Philosophy student was handed a 10-day suspension, while a Behavioral Science junior and a Biochemistry freshman received eight-day and four-day suspensions, respectively.
Meanwhile, the CSC PRO and fourth-year Architecture student was sanctioned with a five-day suspension and removal from her student council position.
The Student Welfare and Development Committee has yet to announce when the suspensions will take effect.
Under the resolutions, the university will also withhold certificates of good moral character from all four students.
The controversy erupted during a joint celebration of UST’s 415th anniversary and the PAF’s 79th anniversary, when the student activists confronted military personnel over an equipment display. They alleged that similar military equipment had been used in human rights violations and aerial bombing operations.
The confrontation eventually led to the students being escorted out of the venue.
The PAF subsequently filed an administrative complaint, urging the university to reprimand the students and seek their removal from the institution.
The disciplinary proceedings, which also involved a complaint from a UST alumnus, stemmed from the April 21 incident. The university ultimately found the students in violation of its Code of Conduct for failing to uphold its principles and ideals.
As expected, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. did not mince words.
He criticized the student activists and questioned why UST officials had apparently tolerated what he considered disrespectful behavior during the PAF exhibit.
Teodoro characterized the April 21 confrontation as a deliberate attempt to “bait” military personnel rather than a legitimate expression of protest.
The Philosophy student’s conduct during the controversy, in my view, displayed what is popularly called “main character syndrome.”
The student is the chairperson of Panday Sining UST.
For the uninitiated, Panday Sining is a national-democratic, militant cultural youth organization associated with the broader leftist movement. It has been linked to the political network surrounding Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, an alliance of progressive and left-leaning organizations that uses “red-tagging” as their go to victim card.
So, I would not be surprised if the Philosophy student and cronies would end up one day as cannon fodders of the CPP-NPA-NDF lying in some ditch in the mountains after an encounter with government forces in their futile attempt to overthrow the legitimate government.
Human beings need to belong. We need meaning, community, direction and recognition. We need to feel that our lives matter. And when you can’t find that in your own life, a political movement can offer you something extremely attractive.
You march alongside people who want a fundamentally different society than you do. You attack the very society that protects your right to do so. And ultimately, you can help empower forces that – if they gained the political power, they seek – would restrict some of the very freedoms you take for granted./PN
