CHAPTER 2

A semester after the proclamation of Martial Law, university enrollment dropped for the second semester of academic year 1972-1973. The Collegian reported a decrease of about 3,000 enrollees that semester. During the early Martial Law months, the "regular" Collegian would often limit its coverage to university and local issues. The publication also operated under a set of rules tailored for Martial Law censors.

Under the leadership of Editor-in-Chief Oscar Yabes, the term 1973 of the Collegian, which was known as the “UP Administration's Collegian,” the staff released a statement with the headline “The Taming of the Collegian.” Unlike the preceding terms, Yabes tailored the publication to steer away from politically charged issues.

Rebel Collegian, a publication by the students that possess autonomy from state and administrative censorship, went underground. The ‘70s Rebel Collegian continued to write and cover sociopolitical issues with a national-democratic editorial thrust and political line.

Most Rebel Collegian issues were widely distributed in the streets, or plastered on public surfaces. The August 31, 1973 issue reported the creation of the Consultative Committee on Student Affairs (CONCOMSA). This is one of the few recovered Rebel Collegian pages.

The front page commentary on the creation of the said body was met with criticism as CONCOMSA was then saw as a tool of the administration to control student activities. The CONCOMSA was seen as a successor to the student council and student regent—student institutions which were abolished by Marcos's Martial Law proclamation.

“In other words, the press, for all its potent power, should be a promoter of national progress and development. This is the role it should take in this 'new society,'" wrote Ricardo A. Alberto of the Institute of Mass Communication.

In his essay, Alberto defended the Philippine Council for Print Media (PCPM) which was established in 1974. PCPM was established to censor media content published by publications. One of the provisions implemented by this council is to only report “positive” news about the Marcos regime.

Alberto argued that news about crimes and “negative” social issues should not be reported, instead should focus more on promoting news about national “progress.” Alberto pointed attention to the Green Revolution ostracized by the Marcos state.

Because of the regular Collegian's lack of editorial independence, articles like these would often be published during the early years of Martial Law.

Some 21 months after Martial Law was declared, the UP administration finally took the first step in reviving the UP Student Council which was abolished by Marcos’s Proclamation 1081. Then UP President Salvador P. Lopez appointed a committee that would study the reactivation of the student council under existing Martial Law decrees. The Collegian editorial board, in an editorial, also called for the revival of a militant, democratic, and representative student council amid Martial Law.

The UP administration backtracked over its previous commitment to “study” the revival of the UP Student Council, saying that it could only be Marcos who could order the council’s revival. It would not be until 1980 that the student council would be revived. For the time being, students were represented by the CONCOMSA–a body elected by student organizations. The CONCOMSA is also responsible for recommending to the administration the members of the Philippine Collegian Board of Judges.

Even the Philippine Collegian was not spared from the bureaucratic challenges that Martial Law has brought. In the first editorial examination set under the terms of the Collegian Martial Law rules, then Editor-in-Chief Emmanuel F. Esguerra blasted the rules, writing it placed too much power on the UP administration to control the timing of the editor selection. The Collegian Martial Law rules, however, would be retained in large part when the permanent rules were approved in 1978. Save for a few amendments, the 1978 rules remain in force to this date to govern the publication.

Calls for the restoration of the UP student council continued to persist after a year of unified efforts initiated by student organizations, individual faculty, as well as the COMCOSA.

In substituting the student council, COMCOSA itself recognized that it was not an adequate substitute given how its mandate fell short of representation and agency from the administration's wishes. Then UP President Lopez noted that the decision to reactivate the council was entrusted to the military. However, no response was expressed by both national and local administrations. Nonetheless, the campaign for a genuine, democratic, and autonomous student council did not cease until its goals were realized—it was not a question of “if” but “when” the student council would be restored.

The demand for student autonomy continues as the 1975 student conference faced administrative intrusion, barring student participation in the selection process. While the university administration maintained that the authorities have a “say” during the student elections, the UP studentry formed an alliance that sought to reform administrative control in campus politics, as well as revisions in the Collegian Rules.

Written by Abraham Sarmiento Jr., editor-in-chief of the 1975 Collegian, the editorial “Another Empty Gesture” criticized the UP administration’s failed efforts to grant student demands on its revised rules in governing the Collegian and conducting student elections. Sarmiento also warned the studentry to be vigilant against opportunistic organizations that openly supported the administration’s intrusion in student affairs.

After publishing five issues of the Collegian that reported and called for student autonomy in campus elections and publication, the UP administration has yet to meet students’ demands. Military intrusion within UP also heightened during the ongoing conflict in drafting a proposal for the Student Conference, with no justification by the UP administration as to why military presence was needed.

Alarming data on major fraternity rumbles and campus violence were also reported by the Collegian. During the earlier release of the Collegian under Sarmiento’s term, it has been reported that 12 fraternities consented to sign a joint manifesto supporting the administration's stance on maintaining their role in the Student Conference. Yet from data reported by the Collegian, and the clamor for proper investigation and disciplinary sanctions on frat-related cases, no action was met by the UP administration.

It should be noted that Sarmiento was a member of the UP Alpha Phi Beta Fraternity. He died in 1977, shortly after he was released from a seven-month imprisonment.

Since 1972, the university has been experiencing several encroachments on its academic freedom. University autonomy was further put to question when then UP President Lopez was not retained in his position, despite garnering the UP community's support for his retention. The Board of Regents would then select a different candidate, owing to Lopez's criticism of the Martial Law government and the state's interference. Lopez was succeeded by Onofre D. Corpuz.

Seeing as the majority of the board were government officials, the difficulty of attaining autonomy from state intervention was difficult. Government encroachment was indeed antithetical to the struggle for greater truth and independence in the university. Likewise, the UP community urged all its constituents to unite with the calls that demanded university autonomy and student council restoration.

Rebel Collegian continued to write reports about national issues, reportage that was not seen during the administration’s Collegian. The December 4, 1975, special issue of Rebel Collegian featured news about sugarcane workers, and farmers' continuous call for genuine land reform and distribution, which the Marcos regime ignored. In the same decade, the Romualdez kin of Imelda Marcos gains majority ownership of Benguet Corp., which is responsible for the production of the majority of the country's gold output.

Republic Act 6364, often known as the Gold Subsidy Law, was passed in 1971 to guarantee gold producers a consistent flow of money. The law mandate that the Central Bank buy refined gold from mining firms with guaranteed financial support for each ounce bought from sellers. By this point, Marcos' friends and family had begun to buy mining company stock.