Several student organizations and councils “strongly condemned the blatant acts of doxxing and harassment targeting Skimmers’ members, governor and adviser.”
“With the increased instances of redtagging by this oppressive state whenever the University raises awareness and action on societal issues, we will not and will never tolerate any kind of harassment or unjust behavior towards our constituents, whether we are facing a single troll or the whole Duterte administration. We won’t let this go unanswered,” the University of the Philippines Visayas (UPV)-University Student Council (USC), Local College Councils (LCCs), and student organizations said in a unity statement.
Skimmers is an academic organization composed of students taking up Literature, and Communication and Media Studies.
Its cheering team was declared champion in this year’s UPV Cheering Competition, beating 10 other academic organizations.
The competition was held in Miagao town, Iloilo on Wednesday, Oct. 16.
The team’s performance highlighted the government’s call to revive the mandatory Reserved Officers Training Corps (ROTC) program for Grades 11 and 12 students; the passage of the Rice Tariffication Law; and the Supreme Court’s decision upholding as valid the Commission on Higher Education’s (CHED)
order removing Filipino, Panitikan and the Philippine Constitution as core subjects in college.
Its cheer also tackled press freedom, media killings, and exploitation.
Skimmers also urged lawmakers to pass the SOGIE (sexual orientation and gender identity and expression) equality bill and the divorce bill.
The performance of Skimmers became viral “after certain groups and pages singled out a line in Skimmers’ cheer condemning the Duterte administration’s inaction over the Philippine claim on the West Philippine Sea.”
“The line’s satirical nature did not sit well with Duterte supporters as they took their threats and harassment to Facebook and launched different attacks against Skimmers and its cheerers,” the statement read.
“These threats are made more pressing and credible as the pages and groups supporting Duterte publicized some personal information of the Skimmers Governor and Skimmers adviser, making them a target,” it added.
The official student publication of the UPV College of Arts and Sciences, Pagbutlak, also decried the attacks on Skimmers.
“Mindless red-tagging is the instinctual response of the Duterte’s defenders. This was complemented by a minion of online trolls with the aim to bamboozle and to silence the oppositions,” it said in a statement.
“With these nasty harassments (sic), we in Pagbutlak vehemently condemn the handiwork of the regime’s minions. Such handiwork seriously threatens established freedom of expression and right to speech of citizens under our Constitution,” it added.IMT
PHOTO CREDITS: Gian Genoveza, IPO
