Terrorizing the So-called Terrorists

Bomb threats, red-tagging, and terror attacks—the constant scares to the scholars of the country—have gone too far. 

Activists and rallyists from different universities and colleges receive threats and are often red-tagged by unknown people, or at some point, the state itself. Ironically, these academic scholars were called terrorists for being socially active and organizing protests against the anomalies happening inside the government, but they are the ones receiving terror attacks. 

At the same time, it’s not just specific students who are affected by these attacks and threats; it also affects the whole institution, interrupting classes and causing chaos. It is getting out of control as cases of bomb threats across the country, specifically to universities, increase even within a year. 

It was only this year that one of the campuses of the University of the Philippines (UP) in Baguio received bomb threats. Numerous students and members of faculty received the threat through their emails containing information on where the sender placed the bombs, as well as other malicious threats toward the university chancellor and members of political organizations, which immediately alerted the whole institution. While there were no casualties reported, this alone is living evidence of terror attacks towards universities because of their political activities. 

Last year, numerous bomb threats were also received by the UP Diliman and Manila, Polytechnic University of the Philippines Manila, De La Salle University, and other institutions. Hundreds of reports on bomb threats have been recorded last year, with 128 incidents happening during October to November alone. 

How did it reach this far, even though the infamous Anti-Terror Bill that is supposed to shield the masses from terror attacks, continues to fail protecting the people? It is always the universities, especially state universities across the country that receive these kinds of threats on a random day. Was it really hard to ensure the security of the universities where the future of the state is currently in?

One thing is clear—the academic scholars of the Philippines are not the terrorists. The scholars who are politically and socially active are not the ones giving threats to the country. Rather, the real terrorists are those who are outside the universities who continuously bring chaos to these institutions. This has to stop. Protection and security are a must. HANDS OFF UNIVERSITIES!