The Wily Filipino

Academic Blacklist?

I'll be posting the SFSU Filipino faculty response shortly, but here's a press release from NAFCON regarding recent events.

There's also an article here written by Emil Guillermo for the Stockton Record.

For Immediate Release November 16, 2004 Contact: Jay Mendoza, 408-297-1977

ARROYO BLACKLISTS PROFESSORS AND STUDENTS FROM ATTENDING UNIVERSITY OF SAN FRANCISCO EVENT.

BLACKLIST ANTAGONIZES FIL-AM COMMUNITY RELATIONS AND EXPOSES DARK SIDE OF ARROYO.

Professors and students confronted the Philippine Consul General about a blacklist, which bars individuals from attending an awards ceremony for the President of the Philippines, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, for an honorary Doctorate to be conferred from the University of San Francisco (USF).

At a meeting at San Francisco State University (SFSU) on Monday, concerned professors, students and community members met to discuss individuals' being denied tickets and the ramifications of a blacklist. Prof. Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales, Prof. Dawn Mabalon, and Dan Begonia, three well-known academics and community advocates, who are faculty at SFSU, were among those blacklisted.

Members present from the SFSU Associated Student Body committed to pursue a student body resolution against the blacklist.

"She's doing political profiling, just like Marcos did during martial law. She wants to silence any perceived voices of opposition. The irony is, people on the blacklist may not all be categorically "against her". So she's damaging her own reputation. It reveals to the American public the dark side of Arroyo---a side of her well known in the Philippines, but not so well known here." said Jay Mendoza, who is a Community Scholar at the University of San Francisco (USF), and the National Coordinator of the National Alliance for Filipino Concerns (NAFCON).

Prof. Dawn Mabalon said: ""We have strong working relationships and wonderful friendships with our colleagues and the Filipino community at USF. I am shocked and angered that the Consulate would, without concrete evidence, bar us from the ceremony. It is a slap in the face to all of us who are community advocates, educators, and professionals, and the implication that we are directing our students to disrupt this ceremony is truly ridiculous.

I did not discuss this event with any students. However, even if I had discussed GMA's policies in my courses, the existence of this list creates an atmosphere of fear, suspicion, hysteria and division, in which the legitimate and constitutionally protected political discourse in which academics and their students can and should engage will be considered subversive. Placement on this list represents a threat to academic freedom. This is chilling."

Prof. Tintiangco-Cubales stated: “"On Wednesday, November 12th, I learned that the Philippine Consulate requested that my passes to the GMA event be returned. I was outraged to find out that it was because I was on a 'list of activists' that included my colleagues, Dawn Mabalon and Dan Begonia. This exclusion from the event is not only embarrassing, it could also cause unreasonable risk of harm to our professional careers, personal reputations and work in the community. It also strains our academic collaborations and relationships with those at USF.

In this situation, the only individuals that have been marked have been educators. This leads me to believe that there is some type of scapegoating of academics and students. Although I was not involved in planning an action against the Philippine President's visit to USF, I am against the unjust suppression of political discourse and peaceful demonstrations. No one should ever be condemned for exercising their constitutional right to engage and participate in political discussion. This is part of our educational process."

Meanwhile, the Philippine Consulate denied there was a blacklist. The denial came amidst two scheduled protests during Arroyo's San Francisco visit, growing community concern about Arroyo's bleak track record of human rights violations and a letter and fax drive to the President of the University of San Francisco, Father Stephen A. Privett, to reconsider conferring an honorary doctorate to the martial law-like President.

"Arroyo is curtailing civil liberties. She's bringing her strong arm, strong republic tactics to the Fil-Am community. This is indicative of a political leader with an atrocious record of human rights violations that rivals even the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos. It's no wonder she's resorted to blacklisting," said Rhonda Ramiro of the Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines.

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NATIONAL ALLIANCE FOR FILIPINO CONCERNS (NAFCON)
525 W. Alma Ave.
San Jose, CA 95125
408-297-1968
nafcon@focusnow.org