Two University of the Philippines (UP) student parties joined growing calls for accountability from political leaders, demanding that Alan Peter Cayetano resign as Senate President following allegations he allowed fugitive Senator Ronald de la Rosa’s escape on Thursday.
Student political parties Nagkakaisang Tugon and Samasa said Cayetano’s actions during the recent leadership change, gunfire inside the chamber’s premises, and de la Rosa’s escape was a “grave failure of leadership, judgment, and institutional responsibility.”
A UP University Student Council councilor in his college days, Cayetano is a Nagkakaisang Tugon alumnus.
Fierce rivals for decades, the two parties issued a joint statement saying that under Cayetano, “the Senate transformed itself from a constitutional institution into a stage for political theater, confusion, and brinkmanship,” it said.
The statement was issued after Assumption College, Senator Loren Legarda’s alma mater, took down her photo from the school’s Gallery of Empowered Women when she joined Cayetano’s group in wresting the senate presidency.
The leadership change in the Senate happened last May 11 and is seen as a move to derail the impeachment trial against Vice President Sara Duterte.
Meanwhile, some San Beda University graduates renewed calls for their alumni office to retract awards given to politicians they said is bringing shame to their school.
“How do you justify naming Rodrigo Duterte a ‘Distinguished Bedan’ given everything that happened under his watch?” a petition in the Facebook group Tunay na Bedista asked.
Duterte is awaiting trial by the International Criminal Court in The Netherlands for crimes against humanity in connection with his war on drugs as Davao City mayor and as Philippine president that reportedly killed thousands of suspected drug dependents.
The petition also said school awards given to Quezon City Rep. Bong Suntay and former Ombudsman Samuel Martirez must be rescinded for the school to reclaim its moral compass.
Suntay recently courted controversy due to his sexist remarks involving actor Anne Curtis while Martirez is alleged to have shielded Duterte from investigations into alleged hidden wealth. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
