My grandfather is a man of few words. I remember being in a car ride with him on the way to his office at the UP School of Labor and Industrial Relations where he currently teaches. There was no conversation between us then, only silence. Instinctively, he turned on the car radio, which, by default, was set to an AM frequency. He listened eagerly to the reporters going through the news of the day. In a recent conversation, I came to know a different side of my grandfather—that at some point in the past, this reticent man had his voice broadcast across the airwaves, and in the process, participated in the making of history during the dark years of the Marcos regime.

In 1971, Jorge Sibal was a 21-year-old business administration senior at UP Diliman. He was an experienced student journalist who previously served as an editor of the UP Student Council’s (UPSC) Kalatas and the College of Business Administration’s (CBA) Business Viewpoint and Guilder Annual. My grandfather was also a member of the UPSC Nationalist Corps Committee, where he actively participated in mass actions like the jeepney drivers’ strike against the oil price hike.

When the Diliman Commune was declared and the students took over the DZUP station, he answered the call of the circumstances and lent his expertise in managing the commune’s broadcasting operations and even serving as its anchor. He was a part of the volunteers who worked day and night in the studio, doing research, planning the broadcasting program schedules, and manning the program slots.

*

Can you describe how you felt being part of the volunteers who took over the DZUP during the Diliman Commune?

The first activists who ran the DZUP studio were not trained or skilled in broadcasting. We heard them speaking and even cursing the Metrocom intruders on air. So we requested the Diliman Commune leaders to allow us to take over the studio so it can be managed more professionally.

The battle cry of student activists is “Makibaka, Huwag Matakot!” (Fight, Be not Afraid). My co-anchor partner was a classmate from CBA, also an activist. Both of us were active in student activism. Other broadcasters were from other colleges. We usually lead the discussion groups in the UPSC Nationalist Corps Committee, so we were quite comfortable in anchoring the DZUP discussions on various topics and issues like the oil price hike, jeepney drivers’ strikes, nationalism, academic freedom and human rights. Staying at the studio during the entire period of the Diliman Commune barricades, we were not on the front line facing the police [Metrocom] intruders.

In a time when being a part of the press critical of the government was life-threatening, what made you push through with volunteering with DZUP?

When you are part of a mass action like guarding a barricade with a large group of companions, as young students accompanied by professors, you don’t really feel afraid. Pastor Mesina Jr. the young UP freshman who graduated from Philippine Science High School, was a member of our group in UPSC Nationalist Corps. He was hit by a shotgun fired by Prof. [Inocente] Campos while manning the barricades and he died after being taken to a hospital. Incidents like this make you feel brave.

As part of the critical press at that time, what do you think was the specific relevance and impact of radio broadcasting for the students and the people at that time?

DZUP became the command center of the Diliman Commune barricades. Various committees went to the studio to give instructions to various barricades manned by UP constituents. This has helped organize the mass actions of the UP constituents and helped prevent more untoward incidents during the barricades. We were also able to explain on air the various causes that the barricades are fighting and advocating for.

How would you compare the political climate under the Marcos regime and now?

Both Presidents Marcos and Duterte were heavily reliant on the military and police forces in ruling the country. Being autocratic leaders, President Marcos declared Martial Law to discipline the people while President Duterte is using extra legal methods like the Anti-Terror Law (ATL), or even threatening to declare a revolutionary government to silence his critics.

With the recent termination of the UP-DND Accord, alongside its other given threats to academic freedom, how do you think this decision would affect campus journalism and student activism both within and outside the campus?

Some right-wing members of the military and police think that this will silence student activism and campus journalism, as well as the critical mass media and the political opposition. They feel that this will also weaken, if not end the CPP-NPA-NDF uprising. Other critics think otherwise like the UP constituents.

As what is happening at present, more moderate groups like advocates of human rights, environmentalists, religious and other civil society groups are starting to unify against possible more militarized political governance. Instead of a unified direction for the desired national recovery of the nation caused by the pandemic, the current crisis may even lead from bad to worse outcomes.

How do you think the experiences of those from your generation during the Diliman Commune and Martial Law can help people today, as democratic rights are constantly being threatened by the regime through the Anti-Terrorism Law, rampant red-tagging, and the militarization of society?

All of us, both outside and inside the government sector, should assess the past and learn from the past lessons. The major problems of the Philippines that include criminality, illegal drugs, communist insurgency, fundamentalist terrorism, graft-ridden governance, poverty, and inequality are rooted in social, political, and economic shortcomings: namely, populist democracy, dynastic governance, and business oligopoly. ATL, militarization, and red-tagging are not the solutions to our country’s problems.

What words of wisdom can you pass on to current student-journalists?

Preserve and promote what the University of the Philippines is known for—academic excellence, academic freedom, and service to the people. ●

The article was first published online on February 7, 2021. 

Editor's note: An earlier version of the article referred to the Anti-Terror Law as an “extra-legal” method. The hyphen has since been deleted and the modifier changed to “extra legal” to better reflect the interviewee’s characterization of the law being an additional piece of legislation enacted to address a supposed shortcoming in the previous body of laws.