FIFTY-EIGHT Thomasian alumni have urged UST Rector Fr. Richard Ang, O.P. to protect the four student activists who were suspended over a protest against a military exhibit on campus last April.
In an open letter posted on Facebook on Oct. 19 by Thomasian poet and activist Angelo Suarez, the alumni appealed to Ang to exercise compassion and provide pastoral care in handling the students’ disciplinary cases.
“We appeal to you, Father Rector, to affirm and uphold the constitutional rights of Raven, Ray, Sean, and Dex and to ensure that their exercise of these rights is not, in itself, made the basis for exclusion,” the alumni said, addressing the student activists by their first names.
“We ask that the University, under your guidance, take meaningful steps to protect students from harassment, intimidation and red-tagging, and that any institutional action concerning them be guided by fairness, due process, and respect for their inherent dignity,” they added.
The appeal came weeks after the UST Office for Student Affairs (OSA) issued resolutions suspending Raven Kristine Racelis, Ralph Christian Manuel, Mecaella Sean Carl Capalar and Dex Anderson Frogoso over a rally criticizing an exhibit of the Philippine Air Force. Capalar was also unseated as UST Central Student Council public relations officer.
On Oct. 14, the student activists filed an appeal to the rector’s office seeking the reconsideration of the OSA’s disciplinary sanctions.
The disciplinary panel had maintained that students must exercise their constitutional rights according to University policies, but the four activists had argued that their actions constituted inquiry and peaceful dissent.
READ: Suspended Thomasian activists to appeal UST sanctions over Air Force exhibit protest
“Our community of Thomasian alumni is troubled that these students are not just being punished for their beliefs; they are being targeted for it,” the alumni said in the letter.
According to the alumni, the activists had all the right to question the existence of a military exhibit and armed state forces inside the university.
“Raven, Ralph, Sean, and Dex were right to stand up for the farmers and ordinary Filipinos affected, if not displaced, by militarization in the countryside,” their letter read.
“Students who ask questions like them need further encouragement, not condemnation nor vilification.”
They also condemned what they described as the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict’s “abusive whole-of-nation approach” against dissent inside the campus. They cited reports claiming that state forces have been actively conducting surveillance on the suspended students.
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“Suspending them further places them to vulnerability, and does more harm to them physically, emotionally, and mentally,” the alumni said.
“At a time where human rights in the Philippines remain fragile and abused, UST should lead the upholding and protection of these fundamental freedoms,” they added.
Invoking the University’s Catholic identity, the signatories cited Fr. Pedro Salgado, Fray Antonio de Montesinos and Fr. Bartolomé de las Casas, Dominican figures who fought for social justice and human rights. They argued that confronting injustice could be an expression of faith and conscience.
“Let the students know that their alma mater remains a home where their voices matter, their rights are respected, and their dignity is protected,” they said.
Among the signatories were assistant city prosecutor Glenn Romano, Naga City councilor Allan Reiz Macaraig and Tabuk City councilor Errol Comafay. F – Ariana Nadine Balleta and Hanna Palomer
