26/08/2026
HANDS OFF UPLB PERSPECTIVE! DEFEND PRESS FREEDOM!
UP Solidaridad strongly condemns the malicious red-tagging and vilification being perpetrated by the page under the name “UPLB Perspective Exposed” and “UPLB Perspective True Colors” against UPLB Perspective, the official student publication of the University of the Philippines Los Baños.
Established on April 4, 2026, the page has since published a series of posts deliberately targeting not only UPLB Perspective, but also student leaders, youth organizations, and other individuals and formations associated with or engaged in the publication’s work.
Among the page’s posts are materials that portray UPLB Perspective and youth formations as fronts or recruitment avenues for ‘insurgency,’ posts that associate student and youth leaders with armed groups based on their organizational affiliations and participation in legitimate campus activities, and posts that use photographs and names of selected students to construct erroneous reports that portray them as threats to public safety. Such posts maliciously distort legitimate student participation and political expression, while placing the individuals targeted at risk of harassment, surveillance, intimidation, and other forms of harm.
The page has also red-tagged UPLB administrators, including Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Janette Malata-Silva, Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Agham Cuevas, Vice Chancellor for Administration Rolando Bello, Vice Chancellor for Community Affairs Eric Paul Peralta, and incumbent UPLB Chancellor Jose V. Camacho.
Targeted Los Baños student leaders include former and current University Student Council (USC) officers, including 2024 USC Chairperson Angelo Roma, 2025 USC Chairperson Wes Balingit, and current USC Chairperson and Vice Chairperson Zeadric Roxas and Andrea Jariel, as well as youth and student formations such as the Samahan ng Kabataan para sa Bayan (SAKBAYAN) and Kabataan Partylist. Also targeted were national youth or student leaders, activists, and campus journalists, such as outgoing Solidaridad National Chairperson Vyan Abella.
The Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab) conducted an investigation last June 2026 where it identified “UPLB Perspective Exposed” among a network of pages engaged in red-tagging and counter-messaging against progressive groups. The investigation found that the page was branded around targeting the UPLB student council and publication, while the broader network targeted youth and student organizations across the country.
Red-tagging remains a dangerous tactic of intimidation to silence dissent and place journalists and members of the community in peril. For the student press, the consequences are particularly grave. The continued red-tagging of UPLB Perspective is a direct assault on campus press freedom and on the right of student journalists to report, investigate, criticize, and hold institutions and those in power accountable. Student publications must be allowed to perform their mandate without being subjected to campaigns of intimidation designed to discredit their work and place their members in danger.
We condemn the deliberate red-tagging to vilify students, journalists, organizations, and academic institutions as “communist fronts” or “recruitment grounds.” The government must be held accountable for continuing to fund and sustain avenues that manufacture malicious narratives. Instead of protecting students and upholding their rights, the state enables campaigns that criminalize legitimate dissent, and expose them to different forms of state repression.
UP Solidaridad continues to uphold student publications’ responsibility to pursue truth and serve the public interest. We will continue to practice journalism grounded in facts and accountability despite attempts to distort our work and malign our members.
