SEVERAL youth groups on Monday rallied outside the Quezon Hall of the University of the Philippines to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Diliman Commune.

Kabataan Partylist Rep. Sarah Elago said the protest was staged to support UP and other schools amid attacks on “academic freedom and the democratic rights of students.”

“Malinaw na malinaw ang mensahe ng Diliman Commune, ang pamantasan ng bayan ay kailanman hindi magsisilbi sa interes ng pasismo. Ang pamantasan ng bayan ay kailanman hindi magsisilbi sa interes ng diktadurya,” Elago said.

“Ang pamantasan ng bayan magpahanggang sa ngayon ay hinahamig ang mga guro, ang mga kawani, ang mga alumni at lahat ng mga estudyante at kabataang Filipino na ipagpatuloy ang laban para sa karapatan ng mamamayan. Hindi lamang ipagtanggol ang pamantasan ng bayan kundi ang mamamayan,” she added.

The Diliman Commune was the culmination of a decade of youth unrest in the 1960s in response to the worsening crisis of a “neocolonial society, anti-communist witchhunts, and Marcos’ insatiable hunger for power.”

Elago also criticized the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police for red-tagging UP students and alumni.

“Malakas nating ipinababatid sa administrasyong Duterte, sa PNP, sa AFP at sa lahat ng nagpapatuloy sa pasismo tulad ng pekeng partylist ng mga kabataan na buhay na buhay at maingay ang barikada ng mamamayan dito sa pamantasan ng bayan,” Elago said.

The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict earlier listed 38 colleges and universities it believes are targeted by the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army.

NTF-ELCAC spokesman Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade claimed that some 18 schools are hotbeds of anti-government communist recruitment.

Elago urged the youth to continue the “history of struggle.”

She reiterated the calls to junk the anti-terror law, stressing that a “highly militaristic approach in solving the armed conflict” can happen if the law pushes through.

“Even before its passage, countless human rights violations have already been committed which has targeted a broad spectrum of people — innocent civilians, farmers, union leaders, journalist, activists, and many more — without due process of the law through the infamous drug war, red-tagging of activists, and other fascist machinations under the Duterte administration,” Elago said.