Civic participation is the bedrock of every functioning democracy. It is the involvement of citizens in public affairs—encompassing voting in elections, joining advocacy groups, volunteering in community initiatives, participating in demonstrations, and even expressing opinions on social media. It serves an important role in influencing public policy, demanding accountability from officials and institutions, building collaborative communities, driving social change, and shaping a nation’s political landscape.
In the realm of public affairs, citizens hold a crucial function as primary stakeholders. However, they are only granted limited opportunities for involvement as bureaucratic models of efficiency and hierarchy stand in conflict with democratic participation. The ideal vision of active citizen participation has fallen short of realization because citizens are deemed ineffectual and powerless by bureaucrats. But while apathy is ascribed to citizens, the opposite is usually true—citizens are not indifferent to the issues that concern their welfare.
In a political system that rests on the consent of the governed, it is essential that there be an informed and empowered citizenry to question dominant dogmas, challenge prevailing authorities, and probe orthodoxies. For institutions of higher learning, this means departing from our ivory towers and consigning into national life. Thus, advancing civic participation demands leveraging the right of academic freedom to promote civic education and engagement.
Academic freedom is a constitutionally granted right to all higher learning institutions. In the 1993 Supreme Court decision of Ateneo De Manila University v. Capulong, the court defined academic freedom as the right to determine “who may teach, what may be taught, how it shall be taught, and who may be admitted to study.” As a concept, academic freedom originated in Medieval Europe to defend universities against religious and political interference. As a legal right, it rests on three core principles, namely intellectual liberty, institutional autonomy, and freedoms granted in the Bill of Rights, according to the late Indiana University professor of laws Ralph Fuchs.
Academic freedom enables universities to become an environment where people can explore and access diverse fields of knowledge from various cultural, ideological, and disciplinary backgrounds without censorship, intimidation, harassment, and violence. It encourages critical discourse through the exchange of diverse perspectives, even contentious subjects, such as political ideologies across the spectrum. Moreover, academic freedom decentralizes power to institutions of higher education, granting them independent governing structures and decision-making processes for the effective management of their resources, consistent with their mandate and mission.
The history of UP as a bastion of activism and dissent is a testament to the role of academic freedom in advancing civic participation toward social change. The reelection of Ferdinand Marcos Sr. in 1969 was a watershed moment of student activism in the Philippines—student strikes erupted in Manila to protest election fraud and corruption under Marcos.
The First Quarter Storm of 1970 followed, marked by student-led demonstrations supported by laborers and farmers. In 1971, students established the Diliman Commune to resist police and military intrusion, in defense of the university’s institutional autonomy as a component of academic freedom. Even during Martial Law since 1972, UP remained a stronghold of resistance. These events led to the 1986 People Power Revolution that overthrew the Marcos regime, a culmination of decades of struggle and raising political consciousness.
Against prevailing systems of oppression, the exercise of academic freedom has ignited movements and birthed activists and revolutionaries across Philippine history.
The movement against the fascist regime of Marcos led to the formation of the revolutionary youth organization Kabataang Makabayan in 1964. To advance women’s liberation, Lorena Barros founded the Malayang Kilusan ng Bagong Kababaihan in 1969. Within the national democratic movement, the League of Filipino Students was created in 1977 to combat imperialism. In 1998, Anakbayan was born and stood on the frontlines of ousting former President Joseph Estrada. These movements were valiantly led by students, while academic institutions served as an environment for alliance-building and collective action.
In the recent timeline, the enactment of the Anti-Terrorism Law has sown a new wave of terror against activists and dissenters, and threatened academic freedom. The UP-DND Accord that bars law enforcement officers from entering UP campuses was abrogated in 2021. Consequently, the termination of the accord has increased the presence of military and police forces on UP campuses, even with the UP-DILG agreement intact. This raised concerns about the potential surveillance, monitoring, and targeting of dissenting voices and activists within the UP community. The constant sightings of police forces within the campus have created an environment of fear and intimidation, undermining academic freedom and shrinking free spaces in the university.
The ascent of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to power is a critical juncture that demands an invigorated civic participation. Against the backdrop of democratic backsliding, dissent is stifled, and the people are instilled with fear and discouraged from engaging in political activities. Amid repressive laws, state-sponsored crackdowns, and pervasive disinformation, universities must defend their academic freedom to reclaim and protect the remaining democratic spaces in the country. Ultimately, the strength of the protection of academic freedom relies on the people’s resolute commitment to preserving their rights. ●
