PUP Surviving the Years of Martial Law

I wish I was able to write down my conversation with Maam T. It was a brief typical chikahan at faculty[this is before the pandemic]. I can’t remember how we end discussing the old building of PUP in Lepanto but she somehow was able to share her stories during Martial Law. She said that the building was in horrible condition and not conducive for the learning of the students. Dilapidated. Overpopulated. When it rains flood would come from the most top floor down to the next.

They would join the rally in Mendiola. Listen to the activist speaking at the top of their lungs. Fight for better learning conditions. Fight for a better campus. And once the “paraks” show up they would cover and take their students back to a safe place. Maam T goes on telling me that she would still meet her students-this is before the pandemic- and celebrate with them even after decades of being their teacher. She said she can’t help but also remember those who did not make it and those who joined a different path for fighting the struggle. As time goes by, Maam T became the principal of PUP lab high and soon the dean of COABTE.

Listening to Maam T is like going back to the 80s she still clearly remember the things they have done to voice out a better learning environment for the PCC students. Students preparing materials for the demonstration and orienting escape plans. I remember a classmate during college who also said “Nako dito binubomba ng tubig dati ang tatay ko sabi nya”.

PUP is now erected in Sta. Mesa Manila next to the Pasig river. One of the buildings inside this campus is named after Charlie Del Rosario who is tagged as “The First Desaparecido”. There are several things that I sow deep into my heart as a PUPian after that day with Maam T. And two of those are: first, the power of activism and its role in teaching and second, I am granted the privilege to study in Sta. Mesa because of the students who marched before me. So to forget this is to forget the value of PUPian education deeply rooted in the mass struggle and the soul of the PUP hymn which says “Gagamitin ang karungungan mula sayo para sa Bayan.” Ang pagkalimot ay pagtataksil sa bayan. Isang kahangalan.

Sakit sa ulo ni Ferdinand Marcos ang PCC noon “hotbed” ng aktibismo kung tawagin. Magbago man ang uri ng pulitika o kulay ng mga mag-aaral nito isa lang ang alam ko hindi dapat magpatinag ang PUPian sa kasinungalingan at kabastusan ng pamilyang ito. Ngayon ginugunita ang EDSA huwag mong bulagin ang sarili mo isko at iska. Unawain ang edukasyon na meron ka ay mapagpalaya at di kumikiling sa mga magnanakaw at mamatay tao.

Here are some articles that mention PCC/PUP or activist in PUP during Martial law.

“the demand for formal qualifications and accreditation increased on the urban employment market, privately-run specialist colleges and technical institutes packed unprecedented numbers of fee-paying students into overcrowded and sometimes seriously dilapidated classrooms and even condemned buildings in downtown Manila. For example, the Philippine College of Commerce counted among its rapidly growing student population ‘mostly children of the lowest-income groups–laborers, janitors, carpenters, even laundrywomen’.”[29]

Petronilo Daroy: “Television brought the violence outside Congress to living rooms across the nation. The next day, the University of the Philippines and the Philippine College of Commerce convoked meetings of their faculties to protest the ‘police brutality’ of January 26. At these meetings, some members proposed mass resignation.”[69]

February 26, 1970
The MDP held a second “Peoples’ Congress” without a permit at Plaza Miranda on February 26, 1970. Protesters re-assembled at the Sunken Garden, outside the Walls of Intramuros before policemen and members of the Philippine Constabulary came. Some protesters marched to the US Embassy on Roxas Boulevard, while others rushed to Mendiola, near Malacanang, where they re-enacted the violent January 30 rally.

The police raided the Philippine College of Commerce, beat up teachers and students, and looted offices, the school authorities complained.

March 1970: Thousands join the People’s March
The February 26 raid at the Philippine College of Commerce only stirred up more agitation and anger. The Movement for a Democratic Philippines, the organization behind some of last month’s large protests, organized a People’s March on March 3 attended by thousands of students, workers, peasants, drivers, urban poor, and people from other sectors. Manila was totally paralyzed. The day before, the transport sector went on strike to protest against corrupt cops.

“After the effigy of Marcos was burned, students chanted, “Makibaka, huwag matakot,” and threw stones as truncheon-toting policemen came near.”

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