Government Intervention on Student Activism in Philippine Universities: A Legal and Philosophical Synthesis

Robert Montaña

doi:10.57106/scientia.v12i2.168

Authors

Robert Montaña University of Santo Tomas https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7235-0649

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.57106/scientia.v12i2.168

Keywords:

Student Activism, Constitutional Law, Communist Recruitment, Conflict Resolution, academic freedom

Abstract

In January 2021, Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade, Jr., spokesperson of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, issued a statement that 18 universities in the Philippines, including Far Eastern University, De La Salle University, University of Santo Tomas, and Ateneo de Manila University – serve as recruiting grounds by the legal fronts of the Communist Party of the Philippines for the New People’s Army. In response to this, a joint statement was made reaffirming the universities’ commitment to defend democracy and nation-building, further reminding the government that autonomy and independence from the state must nonetheless be retained.

Such conceptual discordance leads to issues that give rise to three philosophical endeavors, to wit: first, a pedagogical determination of the role of education as a vital catalyst of stability and change in contemporary times; second, a resolution of the possible human rights conflict between individual/ institutional academic freedom and the constitutional mandate of the Armed Forces of the Philippines to secure the integrity of the national territory; and third, a re-evaluation of the notion of academic activism and its relevance/ danger to the citizen’s adherence to the provisions of the Philippine Constitution. This paper will provide a commentary utilizing the philosophies of Habermas, Rawls, and Gewirth to serve as a guiding light in clarifying the intricate interplay between moral rights and duties in both education and law enforcement.

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