Marcos, No Entry!

Having gone to school in UP Diliman meant I was well acquainted with activists blocking or protesting certain people from entering the campus to give talks or attend events. The latest case involves several UP activists wanting to bar Ferdinand Marcos' daughter, Irene Marcos-Araneta from entering the campus to attend a that she is one of the sponsors of.

The battle cry was simple. A Marcos should not be allowed on campus because we should never forget the martial law days. UP alumni feelings have been split. Some see that barring entry to the daughter of the late dictator has carrying the sins of the father onto the children which they don't think is right. Others think that since she doesn't acknowledge the sins of her father that it warrants the students rising up to bar her entry into the campus.

I've seen this happen multiple times on campus and have never given it much thought. Activists occasionally attempt to bar entry to several speakers especially ones with close ties to the current administration at the time (PGMA) or some corporate bigwig. I, for one saw how violent these protesters can get.

Because of this, I fear for the safety of Irene should she attend this event she sponsored. Yes, on this point, I'm on Irene's side. While I don't like what her family did and continues to do to our country I don't think we should bar people entry to UP because of it. Conflicting ideas is at the heart of academic freedom in UP. As such, we shouldn't be barring people entry because of faulty beliefs they may have or certain associations they may have with people we don't like.

Translation? We shouldn't bar people entry to the campus just because we don't like their ideas. I'm of the belief that false or faulty ideas will die natural deaths. The number one cause of death for such dangerous ideas is having them presented out in the open in an honest to goodness dialogue and debate.

This is where ideas either flourish or die. As such, barring people entry to the campus simply because we don't like what they have to present or we don't like the topic of their talk is encouraging the idea to flourish in secret. Silencing someone only draws sympathy for the person being silenced as they have technically had their freedom of expression infringed upon.

Welcoming Irene Marcos-Araneta into the campus will in no way diminish the sins of her father. It will not show that UP has somehow forgotten the victims of abuse. On the contrary, it will show that UP isn't afraid of the truth and in the end the truth will come out. It will only come out faster if the lies come out as well.