Nation

YOUTH GROUP CONDEMNS RED-TAGGING OF BICOL U STUDENT LEADER

/ 30 April 2022

KABATAAN Party-list on Friday condemned the alleged red-tagging of a student leader in Bicol University.

Reports said that Sean Bufete was red-tagged after joining the #KabataanParaKayLeniKiko concert in Daraga, Albay where he spoke onstage alongside Kabataan Party-list Rep. Sarah Elago on relevant student issues and concerns.

Sean Bufete is a candidate for external vice chairperson for the 2022 Bicol University Student Council.

He is a 3rd year BS Biology student.

A Facebook page called “Malayong Silangan” released a publicity material red-tagging Bufete and Elago along with other Makabayan party-lists and threatening them of being killed if they maintain their political views.

“Never-ending threats against student leaders and intolerance against critical views is a direct effect of the massive disinformation and red-tagging network of the NTF-ELCAC and this dummy account echoes the same propaganda,” the youth group said.

It maintained that Bufete did nothing but share his goals of building a safe space for Filipino youth by upholding press and academic freedom and genuine student representation in campus.

“We call on the BU administration to act upon these threats to their students, seek accountability from culprits behind such vile harassment and ensure the protection of students and their safe spaces for free discourse. We laud Bufete for standing his ground and calling on students to reject such nasty baseless redtagging,” the group said.