Union of Progressive Students

Today, the 𝗨𝗻𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 (𝗨𝗣𝗦), alongside the 𝗦𝗮𝗳𝗲 𝗦𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗠𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 (𝗦𝗦𝗠), its 𝗮𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀, and 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵 𝗖𝗹𝗮𝗶𝗺 - 𝗨𝗣 𝗖𝗲𝗯𝘂 (𝗬𝗖-𝗨𝗣𝗖), unites with the global community to mark the 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗛𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗥𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 𝗗𝗮𝘆.

​Commemorating the 𝗨𝗻𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗮𝗹 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗛𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗥𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 (𝗨𝗗𝗛𝗥) and the 𝟭𝟴-𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝗖𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗘𝗻𝗱 𝗩𝗶𝗼𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗔𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁 𝗪𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻 (𝗩𝗔𝗪), we stand in unyielding solidarity with all victims of state violence and oppression— from our history to the present. ✊

​In the Philippines, the scars of abuse run deep. From the atrocities of Marcos’ Martial Law to the brutality of Duterte’s War on Drugs, our people have been imprisoned, tortured, and killed. Yet, the violation of our rights has not ended; it has merely shapeshifted.

​It persists in the greed of political dynasties that feast on public funds. It persists in the criminal negligence of the Cebu City flood control anomaly during Bagyong Tino. It persists when the narrative of "resiliency" is weaponized to mask government failure, and when bureaucrat-capitalists exploit the very farmers who feed us.

​This struggle is global. From systemic racism and homophobia to genocidal wars, human rights is constantly under siege.

​Guided by 𝗛𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗺, UPS asserts that every individual possesses the inherent potential to change and live fully. Corruption and state violence steal that potential. To deprive a person of their rights is an act of violence against their humanity.

𝗪𝗘 𝗗𝗘𝗠𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗝𝗨𝗦𝗧𝗜𝗖𝗘! 🗣️
Justice for EJK victims and freedom for all political prisoners!
​Junk the Terror Law!
​Accountability for the victims of the Cebu floods!
​Justice for Gaza! Justice for Congo! End the genocide!
​𝗝𝗨𝗦𝗧𝗜𝗖𝗘 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗘𝗢𝗣𝗟𝗘!

So long as injustice persists, humanity will continue to resist! 💙

Makibaka! Huwag matakot!
Lagi’t lagi, para sa bayan!

𝗠𝗔𝗞𝗔𝗣𝗔𝗧𝗔𝗬 𝗔𝗡𝗚 𝗞𝗢𝗥𝗔𝗣𝗦𝗬𝗢𝗡!

Let's relive the militant spirit of Bonifacio and march for the end of systemic oppression!

On 𝗡𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟯𝟬 𝗮𝘁 𝟮:𝟯𝟬 𝗣𝗠 𝗶𝗻 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗦𝗦𝗦 𝗖𝗲𝗯𝘂 𝗠𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗢𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗲, join us for an anti-corruption mobilization. Together with the youth, labourers, and fisherfolk, we walk with the banner of ending corruption and political dynasties!

We demand justice for every individual across all sectors who continues to struggle.

Makigbisog, ayaw kahadlok! Mag-uban ta!

𝗠𝗔𝗞𝗔𝗣𝗔𝗧𝗔𝗬 𝗔𝗡𝗚 𝗞𝗢𝗥𝗔𝗣𝗦𝗬𝗢𝗡!

Let's relive the militant spirit of Bonifacio and march for the end of systemic oppression!

On 𝗡𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟯𝟬 𝗮𝘁 𝟮:𝟯𝟬 𝗣𝗠 𝗶𝗻 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗦𝗦𝗦 𝗖𝗲𝗯𝘂 𝗠𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗢𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗲, join us for an anti-corruption mobilization. Together with the youth, labourers, and fisherfolk, we walk with the banner of ending corruption and political dynasties!

We demand justice for every individual across all sectors who continues to struggle.

Makigbisog, ayaw kahadlok! Mag-uban ta!

On the 30th of November, Sugboanong Pakigbisog Kontra Korapsyon warmly invites every concerned citizen, student, worker, and advocate to join us in a unified, powerful mobilization against corruption and injustice!

Our day of conscience and action will begin with a Holy Mass seeking spiritual guidance and strength for our cause. This journey affirms that spiritual commitment must translate into social action.

As we celebrate Andres Bonifacio's Day, let us be reminded that the fight against corruption is a modern form of heroism—a struggle against government officials who failed to uphold their fundamental duty to the people. We must not stay silent. Join us to be counted among the voices demanding genuine accountability and systemic reform.

We urge all attendees to wear white to show the strength and purity of our collective commitment. Let our numbers send a clear, undeniable message!

DINASTIYANG PULITIKAL, LUMPAGON! KORAPSYON, UNDANGON!

𝗧𝗮𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗴 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗮 𝘀𝗮 𝗞𝗮𝘁𝗮𝘄𝗵𝗮𝗻.

Safe Spaces Movement warmly thanks every individual for their generosity and compassion for those affected by Typhoon Tino 💜

With your utmost support, we will be conducting another wave of relief operation at Purok Aliños in Barangay Tabunok on November 13. We will provide 150 families with hygiene kits, food, water, and clothes.

We are still accepting donations!
For Monetary Donations:
📍: GCash | 09055118764

For Physical Donations:
📍: YACAPIN Office, F. Pacaña Street, Tisa, Cebu City (beside Chilen Chicharon).
https://maps.app.goo.gl/bEyGLb22kBWcUikL7

𝗞𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗹𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗲:
Water, ready-to-eat food, over-the-counter medicines, clothes, and blankets.

Contact Person: Erica Herrera | 09055118764

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As of November 10, we have gathered an amount of PHP 3650.06. The photos below provide a look of the monetary donations! At every stage, we are dedicated to being transparent.
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Salamat sa padayong suporta ninyo mga kauban!

We call on the youth and the people to take our grief and turn it into action. Bring our anger to the streets and demand accountability from those who have failed us time and time again. Join us as we march, as we rage, as we remember the lives lost not to nature, but to negligence.

📌 5PM. 11/07/25. Fuente.

We call on the youth and the people to take our grief and turn it into action. Bring our anger to the streets and demand accountability from those who have failed us time and time again. Join us as we march, as we rage, as we remember the lives lost not to nature, but to negligence.

📌 5PM. 11/07/25. Fuente.

Photos not owned by Youth Claim – UP Cebu. CTTO (Credit to the Owner).

Cebu needs our help.

Typhoon Tino has left many families in need of food, water, and other essentials. In response, the Union of Progressive Students is launching a donation drive to provide immediate relief and support to our fellow Cebuanos.

Your generosity can make a difference. Whether through physical goods or monetary donations, every contribution counts. Let’s come together and help Cebu recover, one act of kindness at a time.

🌧️ For physical donations:
St. Anthony Rowhouse, Kalunasan

🌧️ For monetary donations:
GCash: 0915024****

"SINAG NG BAHAGHARI, SIGLA NG BAYAN!"

When the rain stops pouring after the storm, the sight of a rainbow inspires hope in many hearts for a sunny tomorrow. It is in a similar way that upon seeing the LGBTQ+ community's courage & resilient spirit in the face of injustice, their talents & gifts exceeding excellence, and their deep capacity for compassion & love—these colors of vitality bring forth visions of a brighter future. Not just on the individual level, or the benefit of the UP Cebu student population, but also for the empowerment of our nation as a whole.

Yet, they have not been treated as they deserve. They have weathered through their own storms to exist and live just like those outside the community. Pride is not just about the rainbow but what it symbolizes: hope to see past the grey clouds.

❤️ SCHEDULE FOR PRIDE WEEK 2025:

🧡 October 27 | Social Media Protest

• Solidarity takes to the digital realm in this first activity! Everyone will be encouraged to take photos of themselves with pride week placards to be provided by the council and post them online.

💛October 29 | Online Film Marathon

• Bahagharing Sinag sa Lente (Rainbow Rays through the Lenses) will showcase films with diverse identities and stories to spark critical dialogue. It also aims to bring more q***r narratives to the limelight and provide an empathetic understanding of the LGBTQIA+ experience through cinema. Ready your popcorn by Thursday, 1PM to 5PM via Google Meet!

💚 October 29 | Webinar: Isinantabing Sekswalidad

• Isinantabing Sekswalidad will explore the role of LGBTQIA+ individuals in the national-democratic movement as the finale of this webinar series. It aims to situate q***r struggles within the broader fight for genuine social liberation, highlighting how class, gender, and sexuality intersect in the struggle against oppression. You wouldn't want to miss it on Wednesday, from 8PM - 9PM via Google Meet.

💙 October 31 | Bahaghari Challenge

• The week will culminate with the Bahaghari Challenge, which consists of an online fit check and bingo card. It is a digital celebration that invites everyone to proudly show their colors, both literally and figuratively, across the UP Cebu community.

The UPC Student Council calls on everyone to take this week as an opportunity to stand alongside the marginalized in their fight to exist as themselves and amplify q***r voices as they tell us their stories. If one of us is without their rights, we must all fight for them like they are our own. Together, this week will be a march towards more inclusive horizons!

We, the Union of Progressive Students, stand with the LGBTQIA+ community in their pursuit of freedom, safety, and recognition. In the height of the walls of oppression built against the q***r community, let us paint colors of resistance onto these barriers!

In recent years, society has grown more accepting of q***r identities—but acceptance does not mean equality. Despite the progress, oppression against the LGBTQIA+ community continues to shape their everyday lives. Discrimination, stigma, and violence persist in workplaces, schools, and public spaces, and even one’s home, supposed to be a space of comfort, can become the place they first learn to hide. This pattern of ridicule and exclusion can easily escalate into harm.

Acceptance shouldn’t come with conditions. Yet many q***r Filipinos are still harassed for holding hands in public, outed without consent, and silenced for demanding equality. But so long as oppression still exists, pride will not waver. To show pride is to stand with the LGBTQIA+ community, defend their rights, end discrimination, resist red-tagging, and stand in solidarity with all oppressed sectors—because Pride has always been a protest.

As the opening event of UP Cebu Pride Week 2025, this Virtual Protest calls on everyone to take part in a collective act of visibility and resistance. At 6:30 PM tonight, join us in flooding social media with the following caption and your choice of photo from the ones below:

From being called names on the street to being victims of blatant killings, q***r individuals continue to confront injustices, much like the Filipino transwoman Jennifer “Ganda” Laude, whose murder is a glaring evidence of how easily their lives are dismissed. Dee Supelenas, a trans woman activist, carried that same struggle when she stood tall to defend the oppressed until her dying breath. Their stories, along with countless others that remain unreported, reveal the rot of a system that vows to be for the welfare and empowerment of people’s lives. Yet, they fall short on the recognition of and in serving justice for the q***r community. Access to affirming healthcare and legal recognition for same-sex partnerships remain limited while discrimination is allowed to go unpunished.

For 25 years the S*xual Orientation, Gender Identity or Expression, and S*x Characteristics (SOGIESC) Equality Bill has remained pending in status in the congress. As of the 19th congress under the Marcos Jr. administration, 40 priority bills have been passed, however, measures that ensure the welfare of the LGBTQIA+ community remain excluded. The Philippine government fails to uphold its promises of a “Bagong Pilpinas” with its unceasing disregard of the bills that aim to protect the rights and dignity of its q***r population, especially with the prevalent crimes in the country against them.

With a government that turns its back on the q***r community, silence is not an option. The LGBTQIA+ have been forced to fight for the rights and protection that the state refuses to guarantee. From Pride marches and campaigns across Cebu to UP Cebu’s annual Pride Week, both members of the community and allies have continued to claim space, raise their voices, and demand justice. These acts of resistance are not just celebrations but declarations that they will not simply surrender.

With them, we will continue to take a stand and unify for the individuals that continuously live in fear of coming out to their friends and family, for those who cautiously walk down the street in terror of being harassed, or even murdered because of their identity, and for those who think who they are is what alienates them from society.

Like the colors of the rainbow, let us unite as one strong and harmonious force in this Virtual Protest—to paint a message to be seen and recognized by all. Dahil kapag maliwanag ang sinag ng bahaghari, higit na sumisigla ang bayan!

𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗠𝗢𝗩𝗘𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧 𝗜𝗦 𝗔𝗟𝗜𝗩𝗘 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗪𝗘𝗟𝗟! ✊💙

Even through our screens and the hectic weeks we’ve faced, the spirit of solidarity and progress continues to thrive. 🤍

Last Friday, the 𝗨𝗻𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 held its first 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗵𝘂𝗱𝗱𝗹𝗲 via Google Meet — a space to reconnect, realign, and reimagine the road ahead. 🚙

From forming committees to sharing plans for upcoming projects, the night was filled with stories, laughter, and the shared reminder of why we do what we do: to create spaces where students are seen, heard, and empowered, and to keep building toward a society that is inclusive for all. 🌱

No distance can dull the drive for change. Here’s to moving forward together — one meeting, one message, and one movement at a time. ✨

Lagi’t lagi, para sa bayan! 🦋

Pride breaks through every attempt to silence and erase. Pride is not just a march, it is a movement. It is every step taken by those who refuse to hide, every color that dares to shine in a world that demands we stay gray.

In a macho-feudal and heteronormative society that silences difference, the LGBTQIA+ community stands tall, radiant, and unyielding. Every raised fist, every loud chant, and every unapologetic expression of love is a defiance of systems that choose to erase us.

The University of the Philippines Cebu University Student Council (UPC USC) proudly celebrates 𝗨𝗣 𝗖𝗲𝗯𝘂 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱 with the theme “𝗦𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗴 𝗻𝗴 𝗕𝗮𝗵𝗮𝗴𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗶, 𝗦𝗶𝗴𝗹𝗮 𝗻𝗴 𝗕𝗮𝘆𝗮𝗻.” This week-long commemoration stands as both a tribute to our vibrant q***r community and a resolute call to continue the struggle for equality, safety, and freedom.

𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗮𝗹𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗮 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁.🏳️‍🌈 In a time when LGBTQIA+ individuals continue to face harassment, discrimination, and red-tagging, we reaffirm our call to defend LGBTQIA+ rights, end discrimination, and stand in solidarity with all oppressed sectors. The fight for SOGIESC equality is inseparable from the broader struggle for national liberation, and genuine social justice.

As the colors of the rainbow illuminate our university, they remind us that the brilliance of Pride is rooted in collective resistance — one that stands with the masses. Each hue represents courage, resilience, and love that refuses to yield repression. Our joy is political, our existence is revolutionary, and our solidarity is unwavering.

The UPC USC remains steadfast in its mandate to serve the people, and to stand with the LGBTQIA+ community in their fight for genuine liberation.

To be q***r is to be brave, and to be brave is to fight. 𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗯𝗲𝗸𝗶, 𝗵𝘂𝘄𝗮𝗴 𝗺𝗮𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗸𝗼𝘁! Let the sinag of our struggle light the way toward justice and liberation.

🌤️ Online Huddle | October 24, 2025 (Friday)

We hope everyone’s been keeping safe and taking things one step at a time after the recent calamities. 💙🩵 Despite the challenges, let’s take this chance to reconnect and check in with one another through our online huddle tomorrow, October 24 (Friday), from 6:30 to 8:00 PM via Google Meet.

Here is the Google Meet link for tomorrow:
🔗 https://meet.google.com/yxb-nqou-wrn

Let’s make this gathering a moment of support, reflection, and togetherness as we move forward stronger than before. 🌱✨