University of Santo Tomas (UST)-based digital media organization TomasinoWeb halted operations on Monday morning after its adviser resigned in protest of UST Office of Student Affairs’ (OSA) censorship of the publication.
TomasinoWeb President Jan Zamora said in an interview with The Varsitarian that OSA ordered the organization on Friday to delete a photo posted by the publication.
The photo in question showed two College of Information and Computing Sciences (CICS) students wearing their university's prescribed Type B uniform entering a 7-Eleven convenience store.
According to the OSA, the post brought public ridicule to the CICS due to the comparison of its uniform with the employee uniforms of 7-Eleven.
Zamora added that TomasinoWeb was ordered to issue a public apology over the photo, and while he believes that the deletion order was not justified, the publication still followed it over fear of repercussions from the OSA.
In protest, TomasinoWeb adviser Leo Laparan II resigned on Monday.
“What happened was censorship. And I cannot accept and I cannot believe na as a practicing journalist, nangyari ito sa two-decade career ko sa isang media organization in a student environment setting,” Laparan told The Varsitarian after his resignation.
Laparan is a desk editor at The Philippine Star and added that his resignation was made in part to preserve his “pride” as a journalist.
Following Laparan’s resignation, TomasinoWeb then announced on its social media pages that it was suspending operations after the resignation and “following the protocol of the OSA.”
OSA has previously come under fire for requiring student organizations to seek “permission to post” permits for their social media posts in 2020.
TomasinoWeb protested the rule then, saying that being required to ask for permission at least three days before posting and requiring a “document trail” for online posts go against the nature of the publication and could compromise the organization’s safety.
However, the rule appears to still be in place and indicates that the OSA sees the social media posts of its student organizations as being under its jurisdiction.
Student protests have erupted against the move of the OSA. Yesterday afternoon, students mobilized outside the P. Noval Court, UST to condemn the instance of campus press repression against TomasinoWeb.
Moreover, organizations outside UST have released statements in support of TomasinoWeb, calling for the university’s administration to stop its blatant censorship and cease prioritizing the university’s reputation over the students’ freedom of expression.
“UST-OSA crossed the line with its repressive takedown order against a satirical TomasinoWeb article. It attacks freedom of expression for self preservation, and compromises campus press freedom for inappropriate resolution of student issues,” said Brell Lacerna, spokesperson of the College Editors Guild of the Philippines. ●
