Protests greet Irene Marcos at UP play

MANILA, Philippines — The presence of a member of the Marcos family at the university that has become synonymous with the struggle against the dictatorship did not sit well with members of the University of the Philippines (UP) community.

Students and faculty staged a protest on Friday night at the university’s Palma Hall in Quezon City after Irene Marcos-Araneta, daughter of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, was spotted attending the opening night of the latest production of Dulaang Unibersidad ng Pilipinas (DUP).

In a statement, the UP-Diliman university student council condemned Marcos-Araneta’s presence in the university, noting that it happened in the same month that the country commemorates the declaration of martial law in 1972.

“This has been an outright assault on the history and identity of UP, as well as the Iskolars ng Bayan who have shed blood to defend this identity,” it said in a statement in Filipino.

The student council also condemned the move of the university security to lock a gate and supposedly try to prevent the protest action.

“It is troubling to think that Marcos’s staff used the university security to safely remove Irene from the theater and allow her to escape the militant youths who demand justice from her family,” said the council.

“It is also worrying that if there really is a ‘threat’ at the university, they would prefer to scream and harass the students, rather than lead them to a safe position,” it added.

The student council stressed that Marcos-Araneta’s attendance to the play was a personal support for its director, theater faculty Alexander Cortez, and does not represent the entire theater organization that in the past was vocal against the martial law.

Former social welfare secretary and UP faculty regent Judy Taguiwalo was among those who condemned the presence of Marcos-Araneta in the university.

The DUP management and the university administration have yet to issue statements on the matter.

In April, an official of the Ateneo de Manila University, Arete executive director Yael Buencamino, resigned after she invited Marcos-Araneta to a campus event at the school’s center for creativity and arts.

Last year, UP president Danilo Concepcion also apologized after he was seen attending the reunion of the of the Marcos-era Kabataang Barangay along with then Ilocos Norte governor and now Sen. Imee Marcos inside the campus.