15 Oct 2018

The University of the Philippines Film Institute (UPFI) denounces the declaration made by assistant deputy chief of staff for operations of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Brig. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr., claiming that the screening activities under the auspices of the state university are a means to recruit students to the New People’s Army.

Every program that the UPFI organizes is in keeping with its mandate to educate the university’s national constituency foremost about Philippine history and culture and to promote and protect the highest ideals of the university including love for one’s country and the pursuit of truth.

We protest all acts that impute malice and any motive on our programs other than UPFI’s express mandate. We decry the threat to us and our audiences that the pronouncement implies at a time when the state is engaged in intense counter-insurgency campaigns. We denounce any explicit or implicit attempt to censor us especially in these critical times and to curtail the responsible use of our freedom of expression, speech, and assembly in the University of the Philippines.

In the interest of truth, we call on the leadership of the AFP to retract the statement which serves to twist the people’s perception and besmirch not only UPFI’s institutional standing but ultimately the very ideals of truth, justice, and honor that UPFI as a unit of the country’s foremost establishment of higher learning and the University of the Philippines as a whole hold in the highest regard.