MANILA: Student publications and netizens led by the College Editors Guild of the Philippines – Southern Tagalog launched an online campaign this week to honour Andres Bonifacio’s 149th birth anniversary and as a form of protest to the Cybercrime Prevention Act which they say is an “insult to Bonifacio’s life and death.”
The campus journalists simultaneously changed their profile pictures in Facebook into Bonifacio along with a cover photo with the call: “There is no real freedom of expression without genuine freedom.”
Added to this, they also launched “Dakilang Supremo”, a call for contributions of poems and artworks depicting the relevance of Bonifacio’s plight in today’s time.
The campaign is an initial move by the student journalists to intensify their protests against the Cybercrime Prevention Act which was declared under Temporary Restraining Order by the Supreme Court last October but is set to be revived January next year.
Michael Alegre, Secretary General of CEGP Southern Tagalog slammed the Aquino administration’s inaction to junk the law which he said “reflects how truly deaf this government is even to the demands of Filipino netizens.”
Just last week, student journalists commemorated the 3rd year of the Ampatuan Massacre, Alegre said that an integral part of their call for justice and to end impunity was ensuring that the rights of the Filipino people are never again trampled-upon by the state. “We vow to become Bonifacio’s online and offline, because we know that this is the only way to ensure our rights as freedom-loving citizens,” he stressed.
Alegre reminded the contributions of and the need to continue Bonifacio’s struggle for genuine national democracy.
“Contrary to popular belief, Bonifacio was not only a revolutionary through his actions, but also a revolutionary through his thoughts and words embodied by his writings.”
The Philippine star
