National Union of Students of the Philippines - Cebu

𝗖𝗘𝗕𝗨𝗔𝗡𝗢 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗧𝗛 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗦𝗧𝗨𝗗𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗦 𝗨𝗡𝗜𝗧𝗘 𝗔𝗚𝗔𝗜𝗡𝗦𝗧 𝗢𝗜𝗟 𝗣𝗥𝗜𝗖𝗘 𝗛𝗜𝗞𝗘!

In the face of the worsening oil price crisis, we cannot remain fragmented and silent. Now more than ever, we need a strong and united voice from the youth. We invite all student councils, college-based organizations, formations, and student leaders across Cebu to stand with us in crafting and signing a Unity Statement in solidarity with our jeepney drivers and the Filipino masses.

Their struggle against rising oil prices, VAT and excise taxes, and the Oil Deregulation Law is our struggle as well. As fuel prices increase, so do transportation fares, food, and other basic necessities, directly affecting students and our right to accessible education.

This is a call to:
🔴𝗝𝘂𝗻𝗸 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲 𝗔𝗱𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗧𝗮𝘅 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝘂𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗘𝘅𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝗧𝗮𝘅
🔴𝗥𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗲𝘂𝗺 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗣𝟱𝟱
🔴𝗝𝘂𝗻𝗸 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗢𝗶𝗹 𝗗𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗴𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗟𝗮𝘄
🔴𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗵𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗹𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝟭,𝟮𝟬𝟬 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗮𝗴𝗲
🔴𝗡𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗶𝗹 𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗴𝗹𝗼𝗯𝗮𝗹 𝗳𝗹𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗮𝗴𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻
🔴𝗦𝗮𝗻𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗨𝗦-𝗜𝘀𝗿𝗮𝗲𝗹 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝘄𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗹𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿

We refuse to stay silent while the burden of this crisis is placed on the people.

𝙎𝙖 𝙇𝙖𝙗𝙖𝙣 𝙣𝙜 𝙏𝙨𝙪𝙥𝙚𝙧, 𝙆𝙖𝙨𝙖𝙢𝙖 𝙖𝙣𝙜 𝙆𝙤𝙢𝙮𝙪𝙩𝙚𝙧!

SIGN THE UNITY STATEMENT HERE
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_jc3QNF7oLwqMcCJyDDIX_oBPH5wnkDuM5ZnOpJylFg/edit?usp=sharing





--
𝘗𝘢𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘤, 𝘋𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘤, 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘚𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘜𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘮

LOOK: Student governments, councils, and organizations in Cebu City express their strong opposition to the public utility vehicle modernization program, citing it as an anti-student and anti-poor policy.

MAY NAGBABALIK!

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: The National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP) - Cebu successful held an orientation with the USC Supreme Student Council earlier today, December 03, 2023. The orientation was led by our spokesperson, Cleisteil Cimafranca.

As the USC SSC reaffirms its membership to the Union, we look forward to strengthen our collaboration with the student council in the pursuit of advancing students’ rights and welfare.

We likewise call on other student councils and government to join the Union. Together, let us reinvigorate the patriotic, democratic and progressive student movement towards a just society for all!


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For any student councils and governments or individuals who wish to join the Union, feel free to leave us a direct message or reach us at [email protected].

NUSP CEBU MAY DUMP !

The union successfully hosted and participated different campaigns and activities to carry on our advocacies on student rights and welfare through progressive leadership.

We are still inviting for more student councils in the metro to struggle for reforms to achieve an accessible and quality education system! For leadership trainings, engagements, consultations, collaborations, and the like, reach us at [email protected].

Credits to Forward Publications and NUSP volunteers for the photos.

Are you an incumbent or newly-elected council officer, an aspiring student-leader, or a Cebuano youth who wishes to learn more about leadership? 🫵🫣

Cebu youth and student-leaders, let's start the machinery! Join NUSP Cebu's Edgar Jopson Training Workshop 2023!

This May 7, we are inviting everyone for a series of talks and workshops to equip us with the needed skills and knowledge to embody an excellent student-leader!

With various youth leaders across the Philippines, let us learn more on initiating mass campaigns, becoming an exemplary public speaker, and serving the student body with NUSP's patriotic, democratic, and progressive brand of leadership.

Plus...get this...the leadership training will be FREE for all. Yes. Free po opo! See you! ✊

REGISTER HERE:
bit.ly/May2023EdJop

The National Union of Students of the Philippines - Cebu supports the union's Deputy Secretary-General for Campaigns and Advocacies in his bid for the upcoming student council election as President of the University of San Carlos Supreme Student Council (USC SSC).

For three years, he has served the Carolinians and the Filipino students' interests by forwarding our calls and forging unities amongst other student formations in the metro, most especially during the height of the pandemic and Typhoon Odette. He has represented the union in multiple dialogues, interviews, nationwide caucuses, and mobilizations to exhaust all possible avenues for the victory of student campaigns and advocacies.

From our movements for , , suspension of tuition hikes by CHEd during the lockdown, and many more, NUSP Cebu believes that he is more than ready for the position. The Carolinians deserve a patriotic, democratic, and progressive brand of leadership.
____________________________________________________________

NUSP Cebu on the news with Hans as Deputy Secretary-General for Campaigns and Advocacies:

(1) FOR STOPPAGE OF TUITION HIKES IN REGION 7

https://www.philstar.com/the-freeman/cebu-news/2021/11/20/2142649/student-union-slams-ched-7-over-tuition-fee-hikes-cebu

(2) FOR CEBU STUDENT DEMANDS AFTER TYPHOON ODETTE

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.sunstar.com.ph/ampArticle/1918149

(3) ON SAFE, ACCESSIBLE, AND QUALITY EDUCATION IN CEBU

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.philstar.com/the-freeman/cebu-news/2021/11/17/2141903/minglanillas-sms-boystown-chosen-pilot-person-classes/amp/

A massive thanks to all donors, sponsors, volunteers, and partner organizations who made our school supply relief drive a success! Students from Poblacion Dos, Tagbilaran City received their bundles just in time for the opening of a new semester.

In the height of an education crisis, slow pandemic response, grave unemployment, and skyrocketing inflation, NUSP - Cebu recognizes that Filipino families are facing multiple challenges.

With this, we continue our commitment to campaign for and for all students. Moreover, we will strive for more projects and lobby for pro-student policies to alleviate the situation of our Filipino students and people. Laban! 🫶❤️

SPECIAL THANKS TO:

JCI Boholana Kisses
JCI Bohol Sandugo
Tulong Kabataan - Cebu
Vaper's Hub
Sangguniang Kabataan Poblacion Dos
Our Lady of Lourdes Parish Youth Ministry - Poblacion Dos

UPDATE: With your unceasing support, our volunteers from NUSP, Tulong Kabataan Cebu, JCI Bohol Sandugo, and JCI Boholana Kisses were able to purchase and repack backpacks filled with school supplies for the Poblacion Dos fire victims.

We would also like to acknowledge the support of SK Poblacion Dos and Our Lady of Lourdes Parish Youth Ministry for making this possible. Laban!

For those who wish to volunteer for the distribution, please do not hesitate to message our page.

𝟱𝟬 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗣𝗵𝗽 𝟴𝟬!

Since our first call for donations, we have received overwhelming support that allowed us to reach almost halfway our target amount. But 50 students still need your help!

NUSP Cebu and Tulong Kabataan Cebu, together with SK Poblacion Dos, Our Lady of Lourdes Parish Youth Ministry, and JCI Bohol Sandugo, continue to knock on your hearts to make this relief drive possible.

With your Php 80.00, we endeavor for a student-beneficiary to receiving the ff:
- notebook
- pencils
- ballpen
- eraser
- sharpener
- yellow pad/pad paper
- plastic envelope

In the spirit of Leon Kilat and Francisco Dagohoy, let us extend a helping hand to our Bol-anon brothers and sisters!
__________________________________________________
For monetary donations:
BPI
Denwhil Canete
1199880116

GCASH
Gilliane Marrei Dayan
0915 861 8409

UNIONBANK
Carmel Angela Mata
109653246330

PAYPAL
Carmel Angela Mata
09569012045

For other in-kind donations, you may drop them off at BARANGAY POBLACION II OFFICE.

Photo credits to Ducs Orlando

OTSENTA PARA BALIK ESKWELA: A Poblacion Dos Relief Drive

Last December 23, a huge fire took place in Poblacion Dos, Tagbilaran City, Bohol, which displaced 73 families and claimed the lives of a family of three.

NUSP - Cebu and Tulong Kabataan - Cebu, in partnership with SK Poblacion Dos and Our Lady of Lourdes Parish Youth Ministry, we launch OTSENTA PARA BALIK ESKWELA. As the opening of the second semester is drawing near, we are calling for MONETARY DONATIONS TO PROVIDE BASIC SCHOOL SUPPLIES for the students in Poblacion Dos who were affected by the said fire.

With your Php 80.00, we endeavor for a student-beneficiary to receiving the ff:

- notebook
- pencils
- ballpen
- eraser
- sharpener
- yellow pad/pad paper
- plastic envelope

In the spirit of Leon Kilat and Francisco Dagohoy, let us extend a helping hand to our Bol-anon brothers and sisters!
__________________________________________________
For monetary donations:

BPI
Denwhil Canete
1199880116

GCASH
Gilliane Marrei Dayan
0915 861 8409

UNIONBANK
Carmel Angela Mata
109653246330

PAYPAL
Carmel Angela Mata
09569012045

For other in-kind donations, you may drop them off at BARANGAY POBLACION II OFFICE.

Photo (on the pubmat) credits to Ducs Orlando

HANDS OFF STUDENT LEADERS: On the recent harassment against UPC USC Vice Chairperson Ed Caitum

We, the University of the Philippines Cebu University Student Council (UPC USC), condemn in the strongest possible terms the harassment received by our new Vice Chairperson Ed Caitum, a reflection of the state’s broader war against the people under the guise of the counter-insurgency program.

This is not an isolated incident and, under the aggravated national red-tagging policy, may happen to students who continuously call for good governance and genuine democracy.

Last June 20, Staff Sergeant Joy de la Peña approached the family of student leader Caitum at their immediate residence. During the said interaction, De la Peña claimed that Caitum was among progressives monitored by high-ranking military officials.

The family was instructed to consult Caitum behind the allegations regarding his involvement in the recruitment of underground organizations. Furthermore, she encouraged his family to talk to him first regarding the allegations before De la Peña could communicate to Caitum personally. His family only informed him about the said harassment on June 29, the day military forces were supposed to come to Caitum’s house following their earlier threat.

Lest we forget, Caitum is a legitimate and legal student leader from UP Cebu, who served as a UPC USC Councilor last academic year before assuming vice-chairpersonship. He ran under the ticket of and is also a member of UP Cebu’s political party and mass organization Nagkahiusang Kusog sa Estudyante (NKE), and became one of the conveners of the Student Aid Network Cebu.

De la Peña, on the other hand, is a known Cebuano anti-activist personality, a common speaker in the government’s red-tagging lectures under the pretense of anti-terrorism and peace fora as an alleged former member of a progressive organization. In November 2019 and 2020, she red-tagged numerous progressive organizations and student leaders, linking them to the New People’s Army (NPA) during NSTP classes at the University of San Carlos. This pattern of intimidation is similar to earlier cases, like that of UP Diliman-USC Councilor Ajay Lagrimas who was also threatened to be imprisoned by state forces in his hometown in Bicol as per the order of former President Rodrigo Duterte.

There is no denying that in UP alone, members of the student council and progressive organizations have been consistent subjects of threat and intimidation. Red-tagging of progressive youth further endangers their life and liberty, manifesting into verbal harassment, physical violence, imprisonment, and killings. These schemes are not novel to progressives and have been the typical approach observed by state forces. Unfortunately, until today, they continue to administer tactics to proliferate harassment and fascist attacks that abridge the students’ academic freedom.

Therefore, UPC USC calls for UP Cebu and its constituents to be one with student leaders and progressives amidst attacks on our rights during this historic Marcos Jr. and Duterte regime. We enjoin the UP Cebu’s Malagar administration to stand with its students and other constituents against different forms of harassment.

We collectively demand the junking of the Anti-Terrorism Law and the abolition of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), which has been the government’s oiled vehicle to impinge on constitutionally-guaranteed human rights.

NKE Statement for the Second Anniversary of the Illegal Arrest of the Cebu 8

Two years have already passed since the peaceful protest for the junking of the then Terror bill and the violent dispersal leading towards the illegal arrest of the Cebu 8– Jaime Paglinawan, Joahanna Veloso, Al Ingking, Bern Cañedo, Dyan Gumanao, Nar Porlas, Janry Ubal, and Clement Corominas. The illegal arrest was a clear violation of the protesters’ rights and the UP-DND Accord and its academic freedom. Since then, the state-sponsored attacks have become more boldly explicit, enabled by the blatant red-tagging and other acts of fascism targeting the critics and the poor.

For the last two years, NKE continuously decried the unjust arrest of the Cebu 8 and called for justice to be served for the acquittal of the eight innocent individuals. The unlawful arrest of the eight individuals has been an evident scene on how the administration has misdirected priorities and efforts emphasizing that this event happened during the height of the pandemic. Looking back, we shall remember how the Duterte administration prioritized the passing of the Anti-Terror Law which threatened our democracy and enable crackdown on our activists, instead of addressing the health and economic crisis in the country. We shall not forget how the administration employed militarized solutions instead of adhering to the science and research based practices. Moreover, we shall not forget how the administration poured millions of funds towards the despotic NTF-ELCAC instead of providing genuine benefits towards our healthcare workers, better healthcare system and social services for the people, and effective governance.

Six years under the Duterte Administration, the multitudes of state fascism and state-sponsored attacks has become a benchmark of the rotting democracy and justice system of the country. The academic freedom and the freedom of speech became more elusive as manifested in the illegal arrest of the Cebu 8. Moreover, with the countless numbers of human rights violations and the killings of journalists, teachers, people’s lawyers, and other outspokens, the legacy of the Duterte administration will be remembered as tainted with dark red, the color of the blood of the slained.

Let us not forget that Duterte's war on drugs has been one of the greatest machineries of the state-sponsored attacks that killed more than 12,000 up to date, mostly from the urban poor. In the recent examination of the exhumed remains of a Duterte’s drug war victim, a baller declaring support for Duterte was also found. The hope of the poor that once was there was distinguished in the snap of a bullet to the head. And even with the few days he has left of his seat, no justice has been served for the deaths of the silents and the silenced.

Now, as we dawn towards a new administration propelled to power by disinformation and ill-gotten wealths where democracy has already been tainted, the role of justice will further be stagnated. With a family known for their history of countless human rights violations and continuously denouncing these atrocities as their own, we shall expect a country ruled by them will be a country that will be subjected towards another surge of human rights atrocities.

Now, with the second anniversary of the illegal arrest of the Cebu 8, we shall amplify the calls for justice for these individuals. Moreover, we shall reject the Marcos-Duterte tandem, laced with blood-stained trach records, that will bring more activism crackdowns and worsen the state of academic freedom and overall freedom of the Filipino people.

We challenge the iskolars ng bayan, the UP Cebu administration, and UP System to hold true to our mandate to serve the people. Let us ensure that the university will continue to become a safe haven for the oppressed and marginalized as we ceaselessly clamor the institutionalization of the UP-DND Accord and to reject all maneuvers for campus militarization, abolish the NTF-ELCAC, and to defend our academic freedom.

DEFEND ACADEMIC FREEDOM!
END STATE FASCISM!
REJECT DUTERTE-MARCOS TANDEM!