STAND UP: We will never apologize to Abad
September 22, 2014 | 3:10pm
MANILA, Philippines - Student Alliance for the Advancement of Democratic Rights in UP (STAND UP) will not apologize to Budget Secretary Butch Abad, as written in their statement regarding the protest action on September 17.
The activist group stated that Abad wanted to evade them, contrary to what he said that he was willing to engage in a discussion with them and tried to get away through a fire exit and a window.
"And for what happened, we will never apologize. As if our placards were pitchforks and the crumpled paper thrown were bombs, the guards manhandled us, shielded Abad and rushed him to his car. Alas! We weren’t able to pull him by his collar," said STAND UP.
Abad's statement condemning the violence and aggression of the group is "a tactic to sensationalize the incident and an attempt to swing people's attention to the petty issue of civility."
STAND UP said in their statement that none of the media outfits asked for their side of the story, whether if there were really coins thrown or if Abad was really pulled by the collar.
Instead of dwelling on the issue of civility and decorum, the group suggested to focus on the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) issue, in which Abad is the architect.
The group said that the statement that the University of the Philippines School of Economic's (UPSE) professors mean nothing to them.
"Actually, we laud these professors for breaking their academic silence and rising from their moral stupor with a statement on this incident when, in our formation’s 18 years of existence, we haven’t heard from them, not even during Estrada’s ouster. Apologies to Abad? We’ll leave that to state apologists," STAND UP said.
UP President Alfredo Pascual recently released a statement regarding the mobbing and called the incident "disturbing."
In their statement, STAND UP advised Pascual not to "overreact" like the professors of UPSE.
"The real hooligans with behavior more worthy of condemnation are out there in the government, lambasting our rights and stealing our hard-earned money paid as tax for their own benefit," said the group.
Abad was invited as a speaker UP Diliman University Student Council's Balitaktakan wherein the group waited for him outside the venue to have a discussion about the DAP.
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