A MANIFESTO OF HOPE

How do you change the world?

For the Maoist activist, this is unfailingly simple: through the protracted struggle of the masses. This is the guiding principle to why activists persevere and why (much to the horror of the parents) they outright reject individual ambition in an unfair society. Instead, they study history and sharpen the theories by immersing themselves in the broad masses’ struggles. They actively undertake a role that is neither lucrative nor “successful”. And not only is this a thankless and unprofitable role, it’s even fatal. (See: any credible news source) But they soldier on because they understand that all aspects of our lives are intertwined with politics and economy. And the politics and economy of our country are dying at the hands of a few inter-marrying surnames who siphon our resources and own an army who kills farmers, silences workers, and snuffs out resisting voices. Every single day of our lives seems to become a grim dark reminder that victory is yet to be attained. Fun stuff!

To understand the activist and why they continue to soldier on requires some brief explanations of their psyche. We can tackle this by dispelling the myth that activists are romantic idealists, prone to cavalierism and elitist noblesse oblige, who discuss socialism in a Starbucks. This could not be further from the truth. Their drive comes not from some messianic complex to save the world but from the material conditions that pushed many victims of systematic oppression to take up arms in the countryside. They ground every decision they make in the social realities of their surroundings. In this respect, one must accurately label them as materialists. This is an important distinction to make as apoliticism and apathy take root when the youth’s rising civic consciousness is dismissed as–– a passing sentiment brought on by idealism. Why is this so? Nick Joaquin insightfully explains:

“We glance at the state and say that, politically, we are a failed society. We study the prices and say that, economically, we are a bankrupt society. We peruse the latest crime rates and say that, spiritually, we are a violent society. We devour the latest scandals and say that, morally, we are a sick society.”

This generational lack of spirit - this defeatism, points to decades of semicolonial miseducation whose sole purpose is to numb us from our social realities; to crush our dreams of a more equal society. After all, it is much easier to oppress people when they think they have nothing left to fight for. And so far, one can be forgiven to think that it has finally succeeded. A year ago, we witnessed the most undemocratic democratic elections, one rife with systemic disinformation and historical distortion and which brought back to power the most corrupt family in our country. One does not have to look far to see what the elections cost us. Human rights defenders continue to be kidnapped, detained and, worse, disappeared. Indigenous people community leaders continue to be harassed and killed. Women still face violence and threats to their rights. Workers continue to receive immoral wages and farmers still do not own the land they till. Is the only option

Joseph Eli Occe O

then to wring our hands in defeat?

One of the labels ascribed to activists is “radical”. It means a desire for a thorough and complete political and social change. This, coupled with the theories they sharpened from MarxismLeninism-Maoism, ultimately means that the activist is immune to pessimistic nihilism. They had already been long disillusioned with a system that meets reasonable calls for raising minimum wages with police brutality and then lies about it. They had long acknowledged the fact that the crooked reformist stance of traditional politicians on systemic problems brings no changes in each succeeding administration. It, in fact, reinforces the status quo and must be quickly discarded as a route for a just and lasting peace. Instead, the activist radicalizes reform to its most extreme degree and recognizes that the current state is a failure and must be uprooted and supplanted by a national, democratic, mass-oriented philosophy. They march to the streets carrying these ideas of change and action, and no wonder the state trembles at the mere sight of them - the radicalism brought by these revolutionaries is Hope! And they know we have nothing to lose but our chains.

How do we change the world? Look to the activist. Theirs is the revolutionary struggle of fighting with the masses.

Now it would be a disservice if I ended this article without quoting one of my favorite writers, Discworld author Terry Pratchett. The following is a passage I have only quoted too many times and is taken from his essay, Let There Be Dragons. It goes like this:

“Why does the third of the three brothers, who shares his food with the old woman in the wood, go on to become king of the country? Why does James Bond manage to disarm the nuclear bomb a few seconds before it goes off rather than, as it were, a few seconds afterwards? Because a universe where that did not happen would be a dark and hostile place. Let there be goblin hordes, let there be terrible environmental threats, let there be giant mutated slugs if you really must, but let there also be hope. It may be a grim, thin hope, an Arthurian sword at sunset, but let us know that we do not live in vain.”

Hanggang sa Tagumpay!

PULS ng Masang PNUANs

Naging malaking usapin nang ang biglaang pagsulpot ng Facebook page ng isang kilalang university-based fraternity na animo’y nakabase kay Inang Pamantasan bilang isang lehitimong organisasyon. Ito ay nagbunga ng samu’t saring reaksyon sa PNUans

Sipat Ng Pnuans Sa Mga Usapin Tungkol Sa

Fraternity At Nakaambang Isyu Ng Hazing

dala ng takot at pagkabahala na siya namang mabilis na inaksyunan ng PNU University Student Council sa pamamagitan ng paglalabas ng isang opisyal na pahayag.

Sa unang kwarter ng 2023, sinipat ng publikasyon ang posisyon at reaksyon ng masang PNUANs ukol sa lumalalang kaso ng hazing kaugnay ng pagkakatatag ng mga samahan. Pinulsuhan ang mga guro ng bayan ni Inang Pamant asan sa napapanahong isyu at inalam ang kanilang pananaw sa usaping ito. Ang Pulso ay

Ano ang iyong posisyon sa usapin ukol sa fraternity?

@fruorio

Wala itong puwang sa kahit anong akademikong institusyon. Kahit pa ito ay may layuning humubog ng pagkakaisa o ‘brotherhood’ sa pagitan ng mga miyembro nito, hindi ito maisasakatuparan gamit ang dahas o pananakit. Kung koneksyon lamang sa mga kilalang tao sa unibersidad ang layunin ng isa sa pagpasok nito, marami pang ibang paraan para makamit ito.

@stphst

Ako ay naniniwala na ang hindi makatarungang pamamalakad ng pamunuan ng fraternities ang dahilan kung bakit hindi na litaw ang tunay na tunguhin ng pagbuo nito. Ang dapat na layunin ng pagkakatatag ng isang fraternity o samahan ay ang mabigyan ng pagkakataon ang isang indibidwal na maging bahagi ng samahan kung saan niya mas mahuhubog ang kaniyang interes at kakayahan sa tiyak na larang. Ang tunguhin dapat ng fraternity ay ang mapaunlad ang bawat kasapi nito sa pamamagitan ng kolektibong pagkilos na hindi ginagamitan ng dahas. Sa paglipas ng panahon, tanging ang Fraternity-Related Violence na lamang ang litaw sa lipunan dahil sa kaliwa’t kanang isyung may kinalaman sa FRV. Bunsod nito, naging standard na ng mga umiiral na fraternity ang umiiral na kultura ng karahasan at impyunidad na walang lugar sa ating lipunan.

@Rebreb

Bilang guro sa loob ng Pamantasan, tinututulan ko ang anumang porma ng pagkakampikampi na magdudulot ng karahasan sa loob ni Inang Pamantasan. Walang lugar sa mga tagapagturo ng bayan ang takot dulot ng mga hindi pagkakaunawaan kaya walang silbi na magkaroon ng mga samahan na siyang magpo-protekta sa interes ng iilan lamang.

@Matahunggal

Ang pagkakaroon ng ganitong klaseng kilusan ay isang magandang oportunidad sana para mas pag-igtingin at pagtibayin ang pundasyon patungo sa magandang pagbabago at malinaw na hinaharap dahil sa pagkakaroon ng iisang layunin, kaya nito dalhin ang lipunan sa isang maayos na estado. Datapwat, nagkakaroon ng misconception at maling pagsasagawa para masukat ang iyong pagiging tapat sa pagkamit ng layunin na ito kaya’t mas lumalabo ang pagtingin nito sa magandang hinaharap sa dahilan ng malabong pagintindi sa kakanyahan nito.

@Jany

Mula sa kwento ng aking mga kaibigan, masasabi kong malaki ang pakinabang ng mga kasali sa fraternity sa kanilang samahan, lalo na sa mga isyu tungkol sa proteksyon/hustisya. Ngunit hindi maikakaila na ang mga fraternity ay may mga gawaing hindi ko maintindihan ang gamit tulad na lamang ng hazing. Hindi maituturing na pagkakapatiran ang samahang may dahas sa kanilang pagkakakilanlan.

@MoshiManju

Sa totoo lang, hindi ko talaga alam kung ano ang layunin ng fraternity bago ko ito i-search online. At ayon sa aking mga nabasa, ang hangarin nito ay magtaguyod ng isang samahan na mapapayabong ng kapatiran, lidership, at maging ng pakikiisa sa mga serbisyong pangkomunidad ng mga estudyante lalo na sa kolehiyo. Ngunit nagiging taliwas ang layon nito dahil na rin sa konsepto ng “hazing” o ng kanilang “initiation rights” na patuloy na lumalaganap. Bagama’t ito’y higit na pinagbabawal, may nga fraternity groups pa rin ang patuloy na nagsasagawa ng gawaing ito. Hindi ko lamang maintindihan kung bakit hindi nagtutugma ang kanilang layunin sa kanilang pamamaraan ng “recruitment”, dahil kung kapatiran lang rin naman pala ang kanilang ninanais, bakit kailangan pa nilang danasin ang hagupit ng pamalo at ng kung ano-ano pang materyales na ginagamit sa kanilang recruitment.

isinagawa sa pamamagitan ng isang onlayn sarbey at ang respondente ay nagkaroon ng kolektibong bilang na 100. Narito ang naging resulta ng Pulso ng Masang PNUANs:

Kinukundina ko ang ‘fraternity’ dahil bilang isang miyembro ng LGBTQIA+ naniniwala ako na naka-ugat ito sa patriarkal at macho-pyudal na sistema. Kailangan natin ng isang mas maayos at makataong uri ng organisasyon na sumusulong sa pagkakapantay-pantay at paggalang sa karapatan ng bawat miyembro–at naniniwala ako na hindi nagsusulong ng mga makataong uri ang ‘fraternity.’

@expeculiart

Tutol ako rito dahil sa masamang imahe ng fraternity o brotherhood. Ayon sa mga kakikilala kong may kaibigang kasali sa ‘frat’, tila trauma-bonding at pasahan ng bisyo (pagyoyosi, alak, karahasan atbp.) ang nangyayari sa samahang ito ng mga kalalakihan. Kadalasan, wala itong layunin, tungkulin, o ambag sa lipunan bagkus para lamang sa koneksyon at sariling interes. Sa kabilang banda, maaari akong pumabor dito kung may maayos na sistema ang samahan nila. Hindi naman lahat ng fraternity ay tungkol sa bugbugan o kayabangan, ‘brotherhood’ ito o kapatiran, at saksi naman ang kasaysayan sa isang tagumpay na halimbawa nito: ang Kataas-taasang, Kagalanggalanggang Katipunan ng mga anak ng bayan (KKK) kung saan nagdamayan at nagkaisa sila sa nais nilang mangyari.

Hindi Pabor Pabor

Ang fraternity bilang isang organisasyon ay walang dudang hindi masama. Ngunit dahil sa mga dahas at krimen na nagaganap sa loob ng isang fraternity, hindi nagiging maganda ang ang nasabing pagtitipon, bagkus nagdudulot lamang ng takot sa iilan. Malinaw na ngayon sa kasalukuyan ang banta ng mga pagsali sa fraternity bunsod ng mga hindi mabilang na kaso ng pagpatay at panyuyurak ng dignidad ng isang tao na nagnanais maging kabilang dito.

@Aysel HINDI PABOR

Magbubukas lamang tayo ng daan sa karahasan sa loob ng Pamantasan. Maraming paraan upang makabuo ng koneksyon sa maayos at malinis na paraan. Bukod pa riyan, kung mayroong fraternity sa loob ng paaralan, maaaring bumaba ang kalidad dahil hindi na kakayahan ang basehan kundi koneksyon. Maaari ring magiging pugad ang Pamantasan ng mga values na sasalungat sa katangiang dapat taglayin ng isang Iskolar ng Bayan at ng magiging guro sa hinaharap.

Ano ang nararapat na gawin ng mga administrasyon ng pamantasan upang tuluyang mahadlangan ang ideya ng pagkakaroon ng ganitong klase ng samahan na maaaring kasangkutan ng PNUans sa loob at labas ng pamantasan?

@Third

Paigitingin at magsagawa masusing pagbabantay. ‘Wag magpakampante at maging mapagmatiyag sa mga post o email ng panghihikayat. Palagiang paalalahanan ang mga magaaral na hindi tama ang ganitong kultura at dapat itong iwaksi sa loob man o sa labas ng paaralan para sa kaligtasan ng lahat.

@Tin Myoui

Ang mga administrasyon ng pamantasan ay dapat magtakda ng mga malinaw at maingat na polisiya at regulasyon tungkol sa pagkakaroon ng mga fraternity sa loob at labas ng paaralan. Dapat masiguro ng mga administrador na ang mga organisasyon na ito ay nagtataguyod ng mga positibong halaga at hindi nagiging sanhi ng pang-aapi, karahasan, o iba pang hindi kanais-nais na mga kaganapan.

Maaari rin silang magbigay ng mga pagkakataon para sa mga kasapi ng fraternity na makatulong sa komunidad sa pamamagitan ng mga proyekto at serbisyo. Mahalaga rin na magkaroon ng maayos na sistema ng pagpapatupad ng mga polisiya at regulasyon. Dapat ding maglaan ng mga mekanismo upang masiguro na ang mga kasapi ng fraternity ay ligtas at hindi napapahamak sa loob at labas ng paaralan.

@Buenavides

Honestly, one of the best ways to do it is to shun the possibility of it happening in its totality. Like, if we’re trying to fully prevent the establishment of a culture that can bring out the chance for violence that may very well continue for coming generations, I think it’s best to shut the discussions completely.

@Clover

Ang administrasyon ng pamantasan ay dapat maging mahigpit sa ganitong klase ng samahan sapagkat madami ng umiiral na usapin ang lumalaganap patungkol dito. Kung magkakaroon man ng ganitong samahan paaralan, alam dapat ng administrasyon ang mga miyembro nito, dahilan kung bakit sila sumali, at para saan ang samahang ito. Maaring magpasya ang administrasyon kung papayagan nila ang mga estudyante na magkaroon ng ganitong klaseng samahan ngunit kailangan pa rin nila magingat upang hindi masira ang imahe ng paaralan.

From what I understand, a fraternity is just a bigger school-funded club. Again, I think fraternities could be a good source of social connection for students if initiations were less deathly. However, as someone part of a non-funded organization in the university, I think our institution still has existing clubs that needs the board’s support, especially when it comes to clubs having their own spaces, materials and storage.

It’s amazing to know the support and openness of the school is limitless, but we must know how to handle one thing at a time. Yes we can support multiple causes but we must be realistic and see which causes our school can facilitate right now.”

Ang samahan ay isa sa mga magandang relasyon. Hindi maiaalis sa ating buhay ang pagkakaroon ng kapatiran. Ngunit hindi kaakibat ng kapatiran ang sakitan. Ang tunay na puso ng kapatiran ay damayan, tulungan, at pagpapaunlad ng sarili at maging ng lipunan.

Matapos ang isinagawang PULSO ukol sa usapin ng Fraternity at Hazing, makikita na nagkaroon ng magkahalong posisyon at tindig ang masang PNUan na nagpapakita lamang ng pagiging bukas nito sa diskusyon at kahilingang maglahad ng saloobin at suhestyon patungkol sa isyu. Kumiling ang resulta sa hindi pagpabor sa pagtatatag ng kaugnay na samahan dahil sa banta ng pang-aabuso, karahasan, isyu sa kaligtasan, at mga napapanahong balita ukol dito. Hinamon ang administrasyon sa mas ligtas, inklusibo, at malawakang pagpapatupad ng tungkulin sa loob ng pamantasan.

Ipinahayag ng masang PNUan ang hinaing na mas paigtingin ng administrasyon ng pamantasan ang pagpapatibay ng mga pamantayan, panawagan, at pagkilos upang tuluyang mapigilan ang banta ng pagkakatatag ng mga samahang ito. Sa kabila ng samutsaring opinyon, magkakasama ang mga magiging guro ng bayan sa pagtambol at pagkalampag sa pamantasan upang mapanatili ang kaligtasan ng bawat isa. Tungo lamang sa pagsisiwalat ng mga isyung matagal nang kumukulo sa ilalim ng karayagan natin masosolusyunan ang mga suliraning lubog na sa konserbatibong kultura at, sa huli, bunutin

DIBUHO NI: ERIC DIMASAKAT

Two months after the hazing death report of a University of Cebu student, another fraternity-related death once again alarmed the public last February 28, as the battered naked body of Adamson University 3rd year Chemical Engineering student John Matthew Salilig, 24, was found in an abandoned lot in Barangay Malagasang, Imus, Cavite. According to reports, Salilig attended the welcoming rites of the Tau Gamma Phi held in Biñan City on February 18 before his disappearance. The autopsy and postmortem exam conducted by Cavite Provincial Crime Laboratory revealed that Salilig was smacked with a paddle about 70 times causing severe blunt trauma to his lower extremities which ended the life of the student. Seven members of the Tau Gamma Phi were arrested.

This is the reality about fraternity

In Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, love and belongingness is on the third level of what human desires to fulfill. Humans are social creatures after all who want to be loved, to be wanted, and to belong. Some may find this sense of belongingness with their families and friends, while others may desire to be affiliated with a group such as joining fraternities and sororities.

Fraternity for men, or sorority for women, is an organized society where members are associated together in an environment of companionship and brotherhood. It aims to develop its member’s intellectual, physical, moral, religious, and/or social aspects. This society has taken over academic circles in the Philippines where some students join to feel a sense of belongingness, while others are due to peer pressure.

My brothers were both members of the infamous fraternity in the Philippines called the Tau Gamma Phi. This fraternity has a long withstanding history since the year it was established by the University of the Philippines (UP) in 1968 and has branched to different chapters in the Philippines. Growing up, I remembered looking up to this brotherhood because they served as protection and opened opportunities to my brothers. And with this positive image of fraternity in my head, I told my young self that I will join sorority someday just to experience the same thing.

However, after being exposed to various social issues, I came to fear and oppose the sisterhood and brotherhood that I once dreamed to be part of, as brutal cases caused by the hyper masculine culture of fraternity surfaced in the media. Fraternities have this tradition of conducting initiation activities which take different forms - either through servitude or the dreaded hazing which often includes paddling or any activity that humiliates, abuses, or endangers members by requiring physical violence. For decades, these kinds of initiation rituals persist despite the fact that it’s uncomforting for some or, at worst, may result in the death of neophytes or its members. With this, I’ve been wondering why such violent activities still in existence even if it is taking away lives and dreams of people.

Filomin C. Gutierrez, a sociology professor in University of the Philippines Diliman, answered this question by emphasizing that a fraternity’s practice of hazing is “to affirm a culture of masculinity and honor a tradition held by senior members.” A tradition to filter out fraternity members and measure the devotion of each member to the brotherhood. Gutierrez added that fraternity leaders and members are so ingrained with this welcoming ritual since they find satisfaction from passing down an “honored tradition” from famous senior members to new members to “inculcate” their own experience of the initiation and the bond in general. And the worst thing about normalizing such a culture is that nobody thinks of it as an abuse until one gets seriously hurt or even dies from this violence.

In the Philippines, there have been 36 reported fraternity-related fatalities since the 1950s. Upsilon Sigma Phi’s member Gonzalo Mariano Albert was the first reported death by hazing in 1954 and the long lists of fatalities continue until this day. Among the cases of death by hazing, I remembered Horacio Castillo III, a freshman student of University of the Santo Tomas and a member of the Aegis Juris fraternity, who died in the hands of his presumptive “brothers” during an initiation rites in 2017. His case lead to the amendment of the Republic Act 8049 or the AntiHazing Law to Republic Act 11053 which expands the definition of hazing to “any act that results in physical or psychological suffering, harm, or injury inflicted,” such as paddling, whipping, or subjecting to extreme temperature or pressure as an initiation before joining the fraternity. Moreover, the amendment put more teeths on the penalties to reclusion perpetua or imprisonment of up to 40 years, and a fine of up to P3 million.

However, perpetrators of hazing remain unperturbed by the amendment of the law. Just recently, the death of Adamson University 3rd-year chemical engineering student John Matthew Salilig, 24, once again alarmed the public that impunity in fraternity is still a continuing problem in the country. The battered naked body of Salilig was found in a shallow grave in Imus City, Cavite, 10 days after his family reported him missing last February 20. According to reports, Salilig attended the welcoming rites of the Tau Gamma Phi held in Biñan City on February 18 before his disappearance. The autopsy and postmortem exam conducted by Cavite Provincial Crime Laboratory revealed that Salilig was smacked with a paddle about 70 times causing severe blunt trauma to his lower extremities which ended the life of the student. Seven members of the Tau Gamma Phi were arrested.

Days after this event, the Philippine Normal University - University Student Council alerted the students last April 3 about a non-accredited organization recruiting members both on physical and virtual spaces of the institution. In the Facebook post, the council warned PNUans about sharing any information or joining any organization with a history of hazing or any form of violence from other universities, as there is a penalty, which is expulsion, for those who partake to any hazing-related activity under the PNU 2014 Student Handbook. This only shows that the university gives no space to fraternity-related violence since it defies the vision of the institution of producing high-quality teachers and education managers, who will teach nonviolence, and not encourage the opposite of it.

Despite the passing of an Anti-Hazing Law and amending it to put harsher penalties against perpetrators, as well as each university’s effort to penalize fraternityrelated violence to protect students, such efforts didn’t end the culture of violence practiced in fraternities. Hazing prevails as members continue to normalize this inhumane tradition in a brotherhood that promised protection and belongingness to its neophytes. But where’s brotherhood in killing your “brothers”? Where’s brotherhood in disposing the lifeless body of your “brother” in a grave instead of taking him to the hospital, just to show a pang of guilt and accountability? Is this really the picture of brotherhood that every fraternity wants to pass down through its members? A brotherhood where the hands of the members are stained with the blood of the others?

Times like this is a wake up call for everyone that there is a need to collectively abolish lethal fraternity. In particular, universities and colleges should have a full implementation of the Anti-Hazing Law to ensure the safety of students and to assure the parents that there is no room for violence in their institution. This is also a call to members to challenge the old hyper masculine culture of violence of their fraternity and think of other ways to filter out members and measure their commitment to the group aside from torture or any physical violence.

There is no way to abolish fraternity as long as people feel the need to belong to a group for protection and connection. What the government or any respective groups or institutions can do to end fraternity-related impunity is to join hands with this brotherhood society to come to a common agreement on revising violent and deadly initiation rites in welcoming neophytes. And for students, we can avoid falling victim to hazing as long as we choose wisely on what groups or organizations we join. Say no to groups that practice hazing and stand against violence-related norms and even bills passed in the government. End impunity in any form now!

Ang paghubog ng nasyonalismo ay hindi maaaring idaan sa isang programa lamang o sa bawat palakat ng “kaliwa, kanan” ng nangangasiwa nito. Mas lalo pang hindi maaaring maging sagot ang pagsasabatas ng itinuturing nila na magbibigay daan sa disiplinadong mamamayan, lalo pa kung ito ay magdudulot ng hudyat upang busalan ang bibig ng mga kabataang lumalaban para sa kanilang karapatan. Sa isang bansa na laganap ang kaso ng pangaabuso, korapsyon, at diskriminasyon sa iba’t ibang sektor ng lipunan, kinakasangkapan ng estado ang represyon mula sa makinarya nito upang isulong ang mapanupil na batas upang mas bigyang katwiran ang kanilang mala-kolonyal at mala-pyudal na hangarin. Hindi na ito bago sa pang arawaraw na nabubuhay ang mga Pilipino.

Kamakailan ay pumutok na naman ang isyu sa pagpapanumbalik ng Mandatory Reserve Officers' Training Corps (MROTC) na iminumungkahi sa senado at pagsulong ng kasalukuyang kalihim ng Kagawaran ng Edukasyon at Bise Presidente Sara Duterte. Mariin naman itong tinutulan ng sektor ng kabataan at pinaninindigan na ang pagtuturo ng nasyonalismo at disiplina ay maaring gawin nang hindi ipinatutupad ng MROTC. May dahilan kung bakit hindi ito mandatoryo at kung bakit hindi na dapat ito kailanman magkaroon ng lugar sa kolehiyo. May mga naitalang kaso na ng pang-aabuso sa mga estudyante noong mandatoryo pa ito. Taong 2001 nang paslangin si Mark Nelson Chua at natagpuang lumulutang sa ilog Pasig nang dahil sa pagbunyag nito sa mga katiwaliang nagaganap sa UST ROTC unit. Ang pagkamatay ni Chua ay naging hudyat upang ipanawagan ang pagkabuwag ng MROTC.

Ayon sa Gabriela Youth, sa potensyal na kapahamakang naidudulot nito, magtatanim lamang ang mandatoryong pagpapatupad ng ROTC ng kultura ng karahasan at impyunidad, kasama na ang diskriminasyon sa kababaihan. Noong nakaraan ay naalarma ang mga mag-aaral ng PUP sa tuluyang pagwakas ng PUP-DND accord na naglalayon sana sa proteksyon nito laban sa presensya at pagbabawal ng operasyon ng mga militar at pulisya nang walang pagsasangguni sa administrasyon ng paaralan at pakikipagdayalogo sa mga mag-aaral. Ang nakaambang militarisasyon sa mga kampus ay magbibigay daan lamang sa mas malawak na redtagging at pagbabanta sa mga kritiko ng pamahalaan.

Dagdag pa rito, magdudulot lamang ito ng dagdag na gastusin sa kolehiyo imbes na ilaan ito sa mas kagyat na pangangailangan ng mga estudyante. Hindi matitiyak ang pagpapanumbalik ng nasyonalismo sa pagsulong ng MROTC dahil sa simula’t sapul ay naka angkla na ang edukasyon sa neoliberal na pamamalakad, kung saan ang mga estudyante ay itinuturing lamang bilang sangkap sa pakikipagkalakalan sa mga imperyalistang bayan mula sa export oriented-import dependent na ekonomya ng bansa. Maraming mga programa at asignatura ang tahasang tinanggal ng kagawaran ng edukasyon na dapat ay magsusulong ng pagpapahalaga sa ating kultura. Una, tinanggal ng CHEd ang Filipino at Panitikan bilang pangunahing kurso sa kolehiyo taong 2019. Ikalawa, kamakailan ay binabalak ding tanggalin ang Mother Tongue bilang asignatura sa ika-1 hanggang ikatlong baitang sa elementarya. Ang mga ito ay manipestasyon ng kung ano ang tunay na prayoridad ng estado, at paniguradong hindi ito nakakaling sa makamamamayan at maka-estudyanteng panuntunan mula sa pagsasabatas ng MROTC bilang pagturo sa nasyonalismo.

Sa kabila ng mga anti-mamamayan at anti-estudyante na mga patakaran tulad ng MROTC, hindi ito kailanman pahihintulutan ng mga kabataang magaaral lalo pa kung ito ay magbibigay katwiran sa represibong pamamalakad ng estado at patuloy na pagkitil sa buhay ng mga kritiko. Kaya naman, dapat lamang na tutulan ang pagpapasabatas ng MROTC bilang pagturo ng nasyonalismo dahil ito ay huwad at mapanlinlang, lalo pa kung sa kasaysayan, ang tunay na nasyonalismo ay ang pagkilos ng mga kabataan laban sa pasismo at lagi nang nangunguna upang isulong ang tunay na kalayaan at kapayapaan.