Students from De La Salle University (DLSU) – Manila staged an academic walkout on Monday to denounce corruption in government, following the revelations of the flood-control probe which implicated ranking public officials
Apart from various progressive youth groups, several students joined an anti-corruption march within the Manila campus, before staging a program outside university grounds along Taft Avenue, despite the rainy conditions.
The group swelled to over a thousand after students from DLS-College of Saint Benilde also converged with the initial protest group in solidarity, following their own academic walkout.
Simultaneously, students from DLSU-Laguna also held their own protest.
Students chanted ‘DLSU, laban sa korap,’ in the tune of the university’s UAAP cheer.
During the program, DLSU alumnus and Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) Chair Teodoro ‘Teddy’ Casiño expressed his support to the students’ call and lauded the group for standing up to the issues faced by the country.
‘It is very important that our people, especially our youth, come out and show their protest and anger, otherwise, the cover-up that is currently being carried out in Congress, in the Independent Commission (for Infrastructure) will continue,’ he said in Filipino.
Casiño also highlighted that students’ all over the country must participate as well, as it is their futures that are ‘at stake’ if talks of corruption dissipate, adding that pushing against the issue should continue.
‘We have to keep up the pressure. And the youth are important because our youth, they are the ones with the energy, they are the ones with the drive, and they are the ones with the biggest stake in changing our society, so it’s very important that they have come out, not only here at La Salle but in many schools across the country,’ Casino added.
Professors and parents were also in solidarity with the students’ plea.
DLSU professor and educator Dominic Paguio supported the academic walkout, which coincided with his class schedule.
‘It’s a big part of being an educator to be a role model. This exercise of their democratic rights is a form of education for them. This is a part of understanding their values and what they stand for. I’m supporting that growth in regards to what they stand for, part of their political identity also, and being a citizen of the country,’ Paguio told the Inquirer.
The anti-corruption academic walkout was supposed to be held on October 2, but was postponed after a false bomb threat was sent to a student from DLSU-Manila on the evening of October 1.
Upon investigation of the local police, no explosives or harmful materials were detected within the campus, but the university closed the school grounds on October 2 for precautionary measures.