26/10/2025
Resist Red-Tagging, Protect Student Rights, Uphold Academic Freedom!
CSL Condemns the Hijacking of TAGBO 2025 into a Redtagging Platform!
The Council of Student Leaders (CSL) strongly denounces the alarming acts of red-tagging that transpired during the unsolicited โsurprise guestโ alumni panel talk on the second day of the TAGBO 2025 leadership training at GAP Farm, Davao City. The event was brought forth as an annual leadership formation program of the University of the Philippines Mindanao, organized by the UP Mindanao Office of Student Affairs (OSA). It was envisioned to empower student leaders to be equipped with principled values, engage responsibly with our communities, and sharpen skills in governance and multi-sectoral representation. Instead of cultivating empowerment, the activity was cast by remarks sowing fear and distrust among participants.
On the morning of October 26, delegates were informed that โspecial guestsโ would be joining them for breakfast. It was only then that participants learned that one of these guests was A***n โMarikitโ Ramos, a former CPP-NPA leader now affiliated with Kalinaw Mindanao, an organization widely associated with the NTF-ELCAC and linked to various cases of red-tagging in Davao City. The program ran from 9:00 AM to 10:45 AM and centered on Ramos narrating her life as a โformer insurgent,โ connecting her experiences as a UP Mindanao student, MAKIBAKA member, and combatant, including operations in Talaingod, Paquibato, and Calinan, up to her capture and current engagements. Moreover, the guest speakers were invited by Wardy Puyod, who was the sole invitee for TAGBO 2025. Marikit brought security forces who have incited fear among students for their unusual behavior. Furthermore, neither the CSL nor the participants were informed of their presence at the said activity or of the program in advance.
The speaker irresponsibly claimed that student organizations engaging in advocacy work are โlinked to communist groupsโ and asserted that youth leaders who speak out against injustices are being โrecruited into armed movements.โ Statements suggesting that joining campus formations, volunteering for mass campaigns, or simply exercising oneโs right to organize places a student โunder surveillanceโ are not only ungrounded but also deeply harmful.
The incident left students distressed and feeling unsafe, which was even more aggravated by the presence of unidentified security personnel taking photos within the venue. This climate of intimidation concerned many delegates, sharing sentiments leaving the venue immediately. Eventually, the student body walked out from the session in protest. Their collective action was a clear and courageous proactive measure to display rejection of the harmful narratives and a firm assertion that UP Mindanao students will never tolerate any form of red-tagging under any guise. What transpired is not an isolated incident. It reflects deeper institutional weaknesses that UP Mindanao students have long raised through the 11-Point UP Mindanao Student Demands, wherein the event directly contradicts the campaigns that are being pushed forward to call for transparency from the administration, the protection of academic freedom, and the guarantee of safe and inclusive student spaces.
The Council of Student Leaders determines that fearmongering delivered by the so-called guest speakers must not be dismissed as a minor lapse but understood as a serious breach of student safety and trust. What should have been a space for honing leadership was instead transformed into a red-tagging spree and a venue for indoctrination, derailing the core purpose of TAGBO 2025 entirely.
The Council of Student Leaders calls for the Office of Student Affairs to be fully transparent and accountable in its facilitation of TAGBO and future programs moving forward. The absence of due consultation and the decision to withhold information regarding the event details, specifically the background of the speakers, reveals a lapse in judgment that endangered students instead of empowering them. Programs with the intention of inviting student leaders without the said students in the decision-making process should be condemned.
The Council of Student Leaders stands firm that no student must ever be placed in a situation where their identity, activism, or commitment to serving the people is framed as a threat. The presence of red-tagging corrodes the very principles TAGBO upholds by shifting the focus from empowerment to self-censorship and fear, undermining the growth of student leaders who are meant to question, engage, and advocate with conviction. We remain resolute in ensuring safe learning environments and upholding the dignity of every UP Mindanao student. We will continue to resist all attempts of red-tagging and stifling dissent in any student space, reaffirming that all programs involving the universityโs constituents are avenues for empowerment, not intimidation.
---------------
Signatories:
UP Legal Studies Society
UP Literary Society
Anakbayan - UP Mindanao
UP Salida
DUGONG-Antro
University Student Electoral Board
SIGA UP Mindanao
League Of Filipino Students - UP Mindanao
Anak UPMin
UP Mindanao Architecture Student Council
UP Mindanao - Society of Agribusiness Economists
UP Mindanao Communicators' Guild
Panalipdan Youth UP Mindanao
Society of Math Majors - UP Mindanao
UP Mindanao Association of Musicians, Producers, Lyricists, and Instrumentalists
Teatro Lambigit
Gabriela Youth UP Mindanao
UP Mindanao Association of Pre-Law Students
Youth For Animals UP Mindanao
Himati
Philippine Association of Food Technologists, Inc. - Lambda Chapter (PAFT-ฮป)
Kabataan Partylist - UP Mindanao
Rise for Education - UP Mindanao
UP Mindanao Mentefuwaley
UP Mindanao EBL Dorm House Council
ALPHA PHI OMEGA - LAMBDA NU CHAPTER
UP Mindanao Association of Muslim Students
United Architects of the Philippines Student Auxiliary - UP Mindanao
S**i ni Obli
Pitik UP Mindanao
