The following article appears in the latest issue of Oblation, the newsletter of the UP Diliman University Student Council (USC). The last issue was the last of our term, 2008, and serves as a joint/transition issue with USC 2009.
The University of the Philippines bore witness to our militant history of collective struggle. It has been a testament to the tide and ebb of our national affairs which have propelled thousands of students to forge an inextricable link with various sectors in our society in our clamor for a common aspiration””genuine social change.
At the dawn of the decade 60′s, the country was swept by the massive waves of rage and discontent among the youth, laborers and peasants and other sectors of the society weary of the existing social order favoring foreign interests and the ruling class. It was further aggravated by the government’s incapacity to ease the worsening crisis, tolerance for corruption and the use of fascism to quell the progressive mass movement.
At the height of political repression, the students of the University took both issues of national and local significance to the streets: from tuition fee increases, campus repression and the fight for academic freedom to US imperialism and its war of aggression in Vietnam, oil price hikes, land reform and decent wages for the workers.
Youth organizations that were founded in the University along with University professors propelled the progressive movement in the campus as they packaged militant ideas in fora, convocations, cultural performances, educational and classroom discussions and teach-ins.
As a reaction to the government’s inaction involving the release of its 9-millon budget, the Council of Leaders which includes traditional organizations, fraternities and sororities and progressive organizations such as the Kabataang Makabayan, Student Cultural Association of the University of the Philippines and the University Student Council led the picket protest.
On June 19, the nation would be commemorating the 148th birth anniversary of Dr. Jose Rizal. It was Rizal who coined the popular notion, ang kabataan ang pag-asa ng bayan. Indeed, on the youth, with their unbridled idealism, aspirations and enthusiasm, can rest any people’s hope and desire for social change. 
law student, national democracy activist, film school graduate, photography hobbyist