Lightning rallies are part of a longstanding tradition across the University of the Philippines (UP) System where graduating students and student leaders raise sectoral and national issues during commencement exercises.
They take the stage with unannounced or scheduled protests to spontaneously unfurl banners with inscriptions like ‘Serve the People’ while chanting ‘Iskolar ng Bayan, Ngayon ay Lumalaban,’ wear political messages on their traditional sablay, and deliver speeches on social justice, human rights, and other socio-economic issues.
This tradition aims to collectively raise issues that matter to them and amplify calls as they receive their diplomas-a reminder that the honor and excellence they carry beyond the university are inseparable from service to the people.
Following the declaration of Martial Law in 1972, student activists realized conventional, prolonged protests were easily crushed by the state. The ‘lightning rally’-swift, unexpected, and punchy demonstrations-was adopted as an effective tactic to evade arrests and capture public attention without giving authorities time to disperse them.
UP is known globally as a university system that fosters the ideals of academic excellence, freedom and human rights, nationalism and development, and progressive thinking, hence its campuses, are also famous for being centers of student activism and dissent.
The culture of activism in UP has largely been shaped by the student and people’s movements that challenged the prevailing social order and influenced historical events since UP’s establishment in 1908.
‘The struggle for freedom is the next best thing to actually being free,’ a popular line from the late UP student leader Lean Alejandro who became a key figure in the national anti-dictatorship movement.
Comments on social media videos of lighting rallies during the graduation ceremonies were peppered with familiar lines: ‘Corned beef,’ ‘NPA’ ‘Mamundok na kayo’ often accompanied by laugh reactions or graphic commentary.
The term ‘corned beef’ is used in social media to describe the bodies of suspected rebels killed in the armed encounters.
Two UP students (Alyssa Alano and Maureen Keil Santuyo) were among the 19 civilian casualties during the military operation in Barangay Salamanca, Toboso, Negros Occidental on April 19, 2026.
The term is a form of ‘dark slang’ that refers to the reddish, shredded, or mutilated appearance of severely damaged human remains, which some claim resembles canned corned beef.
Reducing a person to a ‘processed and disposable’ food item, ‘corned beef’ is often used by pro-military or anti-insurgency users on platforms to mock the fallen alleged rebels by stripping away their humanity.
It is not just a descriptor but a tool of psychological warfare used to dehumanize dissenters and desensitize the public by turning violent scenes into internet memes or jokes.
State-prepared scripts of vicious language are propagated, mostly by trolls, to drown out progressive voices and ensure that the public perceives activists as legitimate targets.
Dehumanizing words become normalized through a gradual process in which language that strips individuals or groups of their human qualities is repeated, accepted, and integrated into everyday discourse.
Activists are often framed as
threats to social order-‘trouble-makers,’ ‘anti-development,’ or ‘enemies of peace.’
‘Corned beef’ is also linked with long-running state counterinsurgency disinformation narratives of red-tagging UP as a breeding ground for communists, downplaying UP’s role as a stronghold of academic freedom and independence.
Red-tagging, also known as red-baiting, is a pernicious practice as part of the government’s counterinsurgency efforts that targets individuals or organizations critical or not fully supportive of the actions of a sitting administration by publicly accusing them as either communists or terrorists or both, regardless of their actual political beliefs or affiliations.
The Supreme Court stated in Deduro v. Maj. Gen. Vinoya (G.R. No. 254753, July 4, 2023) that ‘red-tagging is a threat to people’s life, liberty, and security.’
‘Red tagging is used by the military and paramilitary units to silence or cause untold human rights abuses on vocal dissenters,’ said my UP Law professor and SC Senior Associate Justice Marvic Leonen.
No UP student is limited to lessons learned within the classroom.
UP said in a statement that the institution ‘stand by the right of all students to lawfully and peacefully exercise their constitutionally protected freedoms, especially in furtherance of raising their social consciousness. The University shall remain a beacon of critical thinking, conscience, and courage.’
Lightning rallies remind graduating students of their transition from students to professionals to still be committed to serving the people.
Every graduating class faces a different political, economic, and social landscape.
As long as these issues persist, the students will continue using commencement ceremonies to express solidarity with different sectors.
Peyups is the moniker of the University of the Philippines. Atty. Dennis R. Gorecho heads the Seafarers’ Division of the Sapalo Velez Bundang Bulilan Law Offices. For comments, e-mail info@sapalovelez.com, or call 0908-8665786.