27/07/2025
𝗨𝗡𝗜𝗧𝗬 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧
On the Fourth State of the Nation Address of President Marcos Jr.
As the nation awaits the fourth State of the Nation Address of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., we, the Alyansa ng Kabataang Mamamahayag ng PUP, rise to confront the deepening contradictions between the administration’s public narrative and the grim reality faced by the Philippine press, both on campuses and in mainstream society. Beneath the grandeur of the President’s address lies a prevailing climate of repression, budgetary neglect, and a persistent assault on press freedom that we refuse to leave unchallenged.
In the heart of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP), the campus press struggles not only for resources but for its very survival. A university long regarded as a bastion of activism and critical thought now bears witness to the slow suffocation of its student publications. In 2025, it remains an undeniable fact that most PUP publications operate without sufficient funding, lacking the essential equipment needed to produce and publish. This inadequacy is compounded by the absence of permanent office spaces for campus journalists—crucial venues for collaboration, editorial work, and archiving. Such conditions betray a systematic disinterest, if not an implicit policy, to debilitate student-led media. The campus press in PUP has long carried a tradition of critical and militant journalism, but this legacy now stands on precarious ground. What persists today is a fragmented network of underfunded and underserved publications, each struggling to sustain operations amidst institutional neglect, dwindling resources, and administrative interference. Instead of building on its history of resistance and service to the student body, the campus press is being slowly eroded—cornered by both material deprivation and bureaucratic indifference.
This localized crisis within PUP is but a reflection of a nationwide trend. The College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP), the oldest and broadest alliance of student publications in the country, reported that as of early 2025, campus journalists continue to face not only censorship and fund withholding but outright repression. Cases of office evictions, editorial interventions by university administrations, and targeted harassment remain rampant. Publications like Today’s Carolinian were forcibly removed from their designated offices, while others such as The Spark and TomasinoWeb endured brazen administrative interference. These are not isolated incidents but part of a broader pattern of attacks designed to undermine student publications and the critical voices they sustain.
Such attacks occur within the larger context of a state that has remained complicit, if not directly accountable, for perpetuating a hostile environment against the press. While 2024 may have recorded no official journalist killings directly tied to professional practice, the reality of Philippine media remains grim. By April 2025, at least 184 incidents of attacks and threats against journalists had been documented since President Marcos Jr. assumed office, with five journalists killed under his term. The most recent among them was Erwin “Boy Pana” Segovia, gunned down just this July. The killing of Ali Macalintal, a transwoman journalist, drew international condemnation and exposed the state’s failure to decisively address the culture of impunity. The Philippine government, despite claims of safeguarding democracy, has been alarmingly slow, if not indifferent, in resolving these cases. Press freedom watchdogs, including the Committee to Protect Journalists and Amnesty International, have repeatedly flagged the country’s deteriorating climate of media safety.
Adding insult to injury is the chronic underfunding of state universities and colleges, with PUP being a prime casualty. The university’s budget was drastically reduced by almost ₱4 billion in 2024, a cut that directly impacts not just academic services but also student organizations, including the press. In the upcoming fiscal year, a yet-again huge sum of budget cuts threatens the University. The promised accessibility through the Free Tuition Law rings hollow when student publications, integral to fostering critical discourse in universities, are left to fend for themselves, often forced to self-finance or rely on inconsistent administrative support.
Moreover, the long-overdue Campus Press Freedom Bill, which seeks to institutionalize fiscal and editorial independence for student publications, remains languishing in legislative chambers. Year after year, its passage is thwarted by political disinterest, while violations against student journalists multiply without consequence. This legislative inaction, coupled with the aggressive red-tagging of campus journalists by state forces, cements a culture where dissent is endangered and the freedom of expression remains nominal rather than substantive.
In this context, the upcoming SONA risks being yet another empty performance, devoid of genuine accountability. We anticipate the President to brandish figures and projects, but nowhere in his speech do we expect recognition of the worsening state of press freedom or the struggles of the campus press. But even in the face of this calculated neglect, we remain steadfast.
We, the Alyansa ng Kabataang Mamamahayag ng PUP, demand the full reinstatement of publication funds across the PUP System and the immediate provision of spaces, equipment, and operational support for campus journalists. We demand the swift passage of the Campus Press Freedom Bill to guarantee fiscal autonomy and protection from administrative and state interference. We demand an end to red-tagging and all forms of harassment against the press, whether on campus or in the broader media landscape. We demand justice for every journalist murdered, harassed, or silenced, and a definitive end to the culture of impunity that continues to embolden these attacks.
In this critical juncture, the campus press cannot and will not remain silent. Our pens remain sharpened, our voices unyielding. For as long as there is repression, there will be resistance—and we vow to remain chroniclers of the truth, not just for the university, but for the nation.
