The Filipino youth, particularly UP students, did not yield in their advocacies despite the restrictions and limitations imposed by the spread of the coronavirus, adapting their methods and rallying for change even during lockdowns at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Political repression, disinformation, and violence enforced by State players, politicians, and their supporters heightened during the pandemic years, according to progressive organizations and international observers. The Philippines, with a populist-authoritarian bureaucracy and inter-agency pandemic task force, implemented one of the world’s longest and harshest lockdown policies starting March 2020 up to 2021, in various forms of community quarantines to slow down the spread of COVID-19, at the time when antivirus vaccinations, economic relief, and related policies beneficial for the most-affected populations were being rolled-out by the government. These lockdowns resulted to countless human rights violations, massive job displacements and unemployment, economic losses, shift to online classes and flexible work arrangements, and social isolation that affected the people.
People clamored for ayuda or economic aid, health interventions such as mass testing and roll-out of vaccines, access to basic services, upholding of Constitutional freedoms such as rights to mobility and organization, and in worst cases, the right to due process. Even in UP and other schools across the country, government’s redtagging of individuals and organizations, and unauthorized entry of police or military in campuses persisted. These issues lumped together, under an abnormally restrictive environment, were what mobilized youth and students who shifted their methods of organizing their discussions and protests. Initially during the harsh lockdown, they regrouped through online means using freely available apps such as Zoom and Google for their meetings, while conducting community-based activities such as relief drives, community kitchens, and localized protests. They amplified their campaigns via online protests, using creative visuals and hashtags, and spread their statements across social media platforms such as websites, blogs, Facebook, and Twitter. Eventually, the people’s protest actions made their comeback with physical rallies that somehow abated the online and offline violence unleashed foremost against perceived critics of the administration.
Here are some photos of online and on-ground activism during the peak of the pandemic lockdown years.
Hundreds of youth and students, and minors who were prohibited by government to go out of their homes during the lockdown, regained their freedoms for the first time during the COVID-19 pandemic as they took to the streets and converged in UP Diliman during the nation’s commemoration of Independence Day on June 12, 2020. The UP Diliman campus served as a safe space and a venue for the exercise of democratic rights when all other streets and venues were restricted. The protesters called for mass testing, proper medical treatment, and compassionate support for everyone affected by the pandemic. The on-ground rallies have never been proven to cause transmission of coronavirus infections, contrary to warnings made by government officials. Photo by Fred Dabu, UP MPRO.
The country’s Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 (Republic Act No. 11479) became known as the “Terror Bill” when it was still being debated in Congress. Since the first versions of the “Terror Bill” were drafted, various organizations and forms of activism have been erroneously linked by State players to terrorism. #JunkTerrorBill was used to amplify opposition to the legislation of this new law. #AktibistaHindiTerorista aimed to differentiate what State players wrongly conflate. Photo by Fred Dabu, UP MPRO.
Student Regent Renee Louise Co addressing the protestors in front of Quezon Hall, many of whom come from the youth sector of UP. Photo by Jonathan Madrid, UP MPRO
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Filipinos from all walks of life, holding placards or wearing creative expressions of their indignation, again gathered at the University Avenue of the UP Diliman campus to stage the People’s SONA on the same day of President Rodrigo Duterte’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) in Congress on July 27, 2020. No other public space was open for more than 5,000 protesters who were also earlier under threat of police dispersals due to government prohibition of such gatherings. The traditional march to Batasan and protest programs along main roads, citing COVID-19 protocols, were not allowed by authorities. The University functioned as a haven for democratic exercises such as protest actions. Photo by Fred Dabu, UP MPRO.
Lumad youth who were studying in UP Diliman joined the protests in their traditional attire during the People’s SONA in UP Diliman on July 27, 2020. Photo by Fred Dabu, UP MPRO.
Campus journalists belonging to the alliance College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP) joined the People’s SONA in UP Diliman on July 27, 2020. Photo by Fred Dabu, UP MPRO.
The Office of the Student Regent organized online meetings to unite members of the UP community and campaign for students’ rights and welfare. They used relevant hashtags such as #DefendUP #DefendAcademicFreedom #LigtasBalikEskwela. Photo from the Office of the Student Regent
