23/09/2026
๐๐๐ซ๐ญ๐ข๐๐ฅ ๐๐๐ฐ ๐๐๐ญ๐ก ๐๐ง๐ง๐ข๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐ฌ๐๐ซ๐ฒ: ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐๐ก๐๐ง ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ซ๐ฌ ๐จ๐ ๐๐ญ๐ฎ๐๐๐ง๐ญ ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ
by ๐๐ฆ๐ท๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ถ๐ด | ๐๐ฐ๐ถ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ฐ๐ด
Protests, including those led by students, were held across the Philippines on September 21 to commemorate the anniversary of the declaration of Martial Law. These demonstrations continue a tradition of student activism that has spanned more than five decades. One such protest was held in front of SM Bacoor and was led by Kabataan Partylist and Anakbayan.
When interviewed, protesters cited several issues as subjects of their demonstration alongside the commemoration of Martial Law. These included the land struggle at Lupang Ramos in Dasmariรฑas, the Pax Silica controversy, the impeachment hearings involving Vice President Sara Duterte, the Flood Control controversy, and the push for a โsafe havenโ policy for Cavite State University against encroachment by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), among others.
Student activism in the Philippines is not a new phenomenon. Long before contemporary protests, Filipino students had already played significant roles in movements that challenged government policies and authoritarian rule. Several of these activists continued their work through the years of the Marcos Sr. dictatorship.
One example from the beginning of that era was Edgar Jopson, more popularly known as Edjop. He was in his final semester at Ateneo de Manila University in 1970, the first full calendar year of the second term of then President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. A combination of economic disruption caused by Marcos Sr.โs reelection spending spree and concerns over possible term extension through a Constitutional Convention contributed to widespread social unrest.
As president of the National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP), Edjop led a rally during the January 26 State of the Nation Address, setting off a series of protests that became known as the First Quarter Storm (FQS). He led the moderate faction of FQS youth in contrast to the radical faction led by the communist aligned Kabataang Makabayan.
A famous incident during the FQS occurred when Edjop led a march to Malacaรฑang Palace on January 30. He was among the student leaders granted an audience with Marcos Sr. During the meeting, he urged the president to guarantee that the Constitutional Convention would be nonpartisan and that he would not seek a third term. Marcos Sr. denied that he intended to seek a third term. When asked to sign a document declaring this, Marcos reportedly insulted Edjop, saying, โWho are you to tell me what to do! Youโre only a son of a grocer!โ The audience was later interrupted by what became known as the Battle of Mendiola, when a confrontation between police and protesters escalated into attempts to breach Malacaรฑang, as reported by Jose Lacaba and later recalled in his book Days of Disquiet, Nights of Rage.
Edjop continued his activism after the FQS until the declaration of Martial Law in 1972. He later became disillusioned with his previous moderate position and joined the Communist Party of the Philippines in 1973 after the military raided the headquarters of his reformist youth group. He was later killed during the period of Martial Law.
While Edjop represented an earlier generation of student activists, other young people continued to challenge the dictatorship after Martial Law was declared. One of them was Abraham โDittoโ Sarmiento Jr., who became editor in chief of the University of the Philippines Diliman student newspaper, the Philippine Collegian, in 1975.
At a time when major media outlets were heavily restricted under the Marcos regime, the Philippine Collegian continued to publish critical material. Under Sarmientoโs leadership, the newspaper criticized government policies, reported on arrests, raised questions about presidential succession, and called for the release of political prisoners. The paper also organized and participated in rallies concerning campus issues.
Sarmiento was interrogated by then Minister of National Defense Juan Ponce Enrile in December 1975 over a critical editorial. He was later arrested after reading another critical editorial at a university symposium. He was detained for more than seven months in Fort Bonifacio and Camp Crame, including a period of isolation. His health deteriorated during his detention, as he had long suffered from asthma. He died of a heart attack on November 11, 1977, at the age of 27.
Sarmientoโs work also left a lasting mark on student journalism. The UP College of Business Administration and Accountancy later awarded him a posthumous bachelorโs degree in 1978, while the College Editors Guild of the Philippines awarded him a posthumous Plaridel Award in 1986.
The tradition of student activism continued into the final years of the dictatorship. Leandro โLeanโ Alejandro became one of the prominent student leaders of this period.
Alejandro initially enrolled at UP Diliman in 1978 to study chemistry as a preparatory course for medicine but later shifted to Philippine Studies. He joined the Philippine Collegian as a features writer in 1979 and later became active in student organizations. He chaired the Youth for Nationalism and Democracy from 1980 to 1981 and was elected chairman of the UP Diliman University Student Council for the 1983โ1984 school year.
In May 1984, Alejandro led a UP student march to Mendiola to protest tuition increases. The march ended peacefully and was regarded by Bantayog ng mga Bayani as the first march on Mendiola to end peacefully since the First Quarter Storm of 1970. Under his leadership, student demonstrations later grew from hundreds of participants to tens of thousands.
Following the assassination of Benigno โNinoyโ Aquino Jr. in 1983, Alejandro became increasingly involved in the broader anti dictatorship movement. He became active in the Justice for Aquino, Justice for All movement and helped establish several organizations, including the Coalition of Organizations for the Realization of Democracy, the Nationalist Alliance for Justice, Freedom and Democracy, and Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN). He eventually became BAYANโs secretary general.
Alejandroโs activism continued beyond the fall of the Marcos dictatorship. He participated in the 1986 People Power Revolution and remained active in politics and the protest movement afterward. In 1987, he was assassinated after leaving a press conference in Intramuros and while travelling toward the BAYAN office in Quezon City. His vehicle was ambushed near the organizationโs headquarters, killing Alejandro and wounding two of his companions. He was 27 years old.
The circumstances surrounding Alejandroโs assassination remain unresolved. BAYAN attributed his killing to what it described as โbloody anti people crimesโ committed by the Aquino administration, while the government condemned the killing. Bantayog ng mga Bayani notes that the case remains unsolved. These claims should therefore be understood as attributed positions rather than an established finding regarding the perpetrators.
๐ ๐๐จ๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ฎ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ฒ
The stories of Edjop, Ditto Sarmiento, and Lean Alejandro show how student activism continued across different periods of Philippine history. Their experiences also demonstrate that student participation took different forms, from street protests and student organizations to campus journalism and broader movements for political change.
Their names are among those remembered by Bantayog ng mga Bayani, which documents the experiences of individuals who resisted the Marcos dictatorship and the repression surrounding it. The organizationโs historical collection also places the resistance within the broader period before, during, and immediately after the Marcos dictatorship.
More than five decades after the First Quarter Storm and 54 years after the declaration of Martial Law, student activism remains part of Philippine political and social life. The issues raised by todayโs students may differ from those raised by previous generations, but the continued presence of students in public discussions reflects the lasting role of the youth in Philippine history.
Sarmientoโs words continue to capture the question that has confronted generations of young Filipinos:
โKung hindi tayo kikibo, sino ang kikibo? Kung hindi tayo kikilos, sino ang kikilos? Kung hindi ngayon, kailan pa?โ
via: on IG
