STAND-UP

History

Student Alliance for the Advancement of Democratic Rights in UP Tunay. Palaban. Makabayan. Iskolar ng Bayan, SERVE THE PEOPLE! Misyon It is in the principle that the present educational system is colonial, commercialized and repressive that the STAND-UP poses itself in the forefront of the struggle of students in issues confronting them.

It believes that a mass-oriented, scientific and nationalist education is what the Filipino studentry should avail, in the service of the country and its people.

As an alliance and a political force, STAND-UP seeks to intervene on two closely interconnected terrain—that a colonial, commercialized and repressive educational system and of an agrarian backward and foreign-dominated society. Kabuuang-ideya sa Kumpanya In 1996, the Student Alliance for the Advancement of Democratic Rights in UP or STAND UP, was founded to revive the original pro-student and pro-people spirit of the SAMASA or Sandigan ng Mag-aaral para sa Sambayanan.

SAMASA began as a University-wide alliance of student organizations campaigning for the return of student institutions such as the Student Councils. When the USC was reestablished in 1981, SAMASA won landslide victories in that election and in several elections after.

However, SAMASA began to lose the support of the student body after it began to lose sight of its basic principles, such as a sharp analysis connecting local campus issues with national issues.

Such problems came to head when SAMASA formally split into 2 in 1995, SAMASA and SAMASA-TMMA (Tunay Militante Makabayang Alyansa). The 7 organizations which initially formed SAMASA-TMMA seeked to go back to the original principles of SAMASA. In 1996, SAMASA-TMMA became STAND-UP.

STAND UP has always been at the forefront of the struggles of the students and the people. It was the first alliance to call for the ouster of corrupt ex-President Joseph Estrada in 1999, and Gloria Arroyo in 2004. As of present, it is the only student alliance in UP Diliman to join the only youth partylist in the Philippines, Kabataan Partylist.

It is also the only Alliance in UP Diliman to consistently oppose the series of UP budget cuts from 2000 to 2005, commercialization schemes such as laboratory and dorm fee increases, and the Tuition and Other Fee Increases in 2006.

STAND UP is guided by the basic principle of EDUCATION IS A RIGHT and advocates a NATIONALIST, SCIENTIFIC, and MASS ORIENTED educational system over the present COMMERCIALIZED, COLONIAL AND REPRESSIVE system.

Member Organizations: AGHAM Youth ALAB UP ALAY SINING Alpha Phi Omega Fraternity Alpha Sigma Fraternity ANAKBAYAN Artists' Circle Fraternity Artists' Circle Sorority Astrum Scientis Sorority Beta Lambda Kappa Sorority Center for Nationalist Studies EMC2 Fraternity Gabriela UP Diliman Gamma Sigma Pi Fraternity Ibalon Kappa Epsilon Fraternity Lambda Sigma Pi Sorority League of Filipino Students Moriones NNARA Youth Pi Sigma Fraternity Pi Sigma Delta Sorority Pi Omicron Fraternity Praxis ProGAY-LesboND ROMA Saligan sa CSSP Sigma Alpha Sorority Sigma Delta Pi Sorority Sigma Kappa Pi Fraternity SINAGBAYAN Student Christian Movement of the Philippines Union of Journalists in the Philippines

STAND UP Campaigns

Advance Student Rights and Welfare FEES FREEZE! Push for the imposition of a tuition moratorium for 6 years and explore the possible rollback of fee hikes. Ensure UP President Pascual’s commitment against imposing tuition increases during his term.

DI NA KITA LAB. Oppose impending laboratory fee increases (such as the Chemical Engineering and Physical Education Lab fees). Campaign for the rollback and refund of unjust fees (i.e. deposit fee and other exorbitant fees). Challenge the next UP Diliman Chancellor to impose a moratorium on lab fee increases. Assert for the utilization of UP savings for laboratory needs.

RECLAIM OUR RIGHTS! Reclaim and uphold the democratic rights of students. Oppose the 2010 Code of Student Conduct. Ensure the revision of existing rules in accordance with the Student Demands.

Recognition of the role of student organizations in the UP community and providing them the democratic space they need in order to truly flourish. Push for the free use or waiving of the fees required for the use of equipment, facilities and venues for student activities and the provision of fully-functional tambayans among others and the lighting of the Vinzon’s Hall Tambayan Complex.

Assert for the revision of stringent organization recognition/ registration procedures. Remove unnecessary requirements and expenditures. Ensure that no organization will be prevented from being recognized based on its character, beliefs, and objectives. Assert for the formation of org recognition/registration board with student representatives. Ensure that the OSA participation will be limited to guiding the systematic process.

Ensure the right to peaceably assemble in the University, subject only to coordination between the college, or university administration and the student councils or organizations concerned. Coordination in this case shall be construed as notice to university or college administration, but shall not in any way prevent the holding of a peaceful and legitimate student assembly.

Push for the democratization of governance in the University. Ensure student and sectoral representation in policy-making and decision-making committees from the College to University level.

Ensure the immediate construction of more bulletin and publicity boards in conspicuous places in the University, whether inside academic buildings or along its sprawling grounds. Push for less stringent regulation requirements in the proliferation of publicity materials for student activities.

Publish or perish. Support the establishment of official student publication in every college or school. Ensure full editorial autonomy.

Know your rights. Release a pamphlet for students which stipulates their basic rights inside and outside the university.

FACE TO FACE! Continue the regular dialogue with the Office of Vice-Chancellor for Student Affairs (OVCSA) and its sub-offices. Ensure that the appointment of the new VCSA and OSA Director will be subject to consultations with the students. Ensure regular student-administration dialogues in colleges through the College Representatives. ISUMBONG MO SA USC! Establish the Grievance, Response, and Investigation Desk (GRID) where students can formally submit their grievances and other student concerns. CAMPUS CAMPAIGNS

Education reforms. Call for the repeal of the Education Act of 1982, the Campus Journalism Act of 1991, and the revamp of government policies to reduce the budget of state colleges and universities (SUCs). Campaign for the government to regulate tuition in private schools.

Educate to Liberate. Education is a right. We shall push for a nationalist, scientific, and mass-oriented education. UPgrades. Monitor the renovation of academic buildings (such as the School of Statistics) and the immediate transfer of SLIS to a permanent site. Makabayang GE. Junk RGEP, support a nationalist GE curriculum. Oppose the proposed implementation of Large Lecture Class Policy in the Math Department. No to militarization. Condemn militarization on campuses including UP Los Baños and UP Ilo-ilo. Call for the administration to uphold the 1989 UP-DND Accord and 1992 UP-DILG agreement which prohibits military agents in the University that compromises the academic freedom in campus.

USC to the max. Strengthen the existing committees in the USC, and ensure qualitative and quantitative records of the council’s work and accomplishments, within the framework of transparency and continued improvements to the USC’s programs. STOP DORMancy! Conduct regular consultations with dormitory residents. Draft and enact plans to address the various issues of dormers, including the admissions process. Assert to re-channel parts of UP Diliman savings towards the improvement of dormitory facilities. GRADUATE STUDENT COUNCIL. Establish the Graduate School Student Council. Assist and support the establishment of UP Open University Student Council.

Launch activities to enhance our skills for people Educational Discussions. Regularize and campaign for massive educational discussions in the university that tackles Philippine Social Realities to develop critical thinking among the students.

Iskolarship. Coordinate with the House of Representatives for the institutionalization of joint USC scholarship grants for UP students. Monitor the concerns of students with regard to their scholarships programs (DOST, STFAP, private scholarships, etc.). Organize scholarship fairs.

Lorena Barros Renovation Project. Ensure the management of Lorena Barros Hall as a student activity center. Last year, the STAND UP was able to solicit P3 million for the project and construction is expected to begin on February/March. This shall be the first-ever student-run facility in UP. Free-UP FAIR. Organize an accessible UP Fair for UP students. Give UP’s home-grown bands and performing groups more opportunities to perform. Ensure the social relevance of the UP Fair. ORGaling! We shall push for more activity areas in UP Diliman (aside from our success in ensuring the greater accessibility of Alcantara Hall and Vinzons Activity Center) to be free for the use of UP student formations. Launch organizational fairs where various student organizations can showcase their formations and find a venue for recruitment. ACLEt’s do it! Launch a better and more relevant Alternative Classroom Learning Experience. Improve online enlistment and publicity of ACLE. Encourage organizations to host socially relevant topics. TAM(bahay)AN. Fight for the right of each recognized organization to be afforded a tambayan by the university. Tambayans are part of UP organizations’ right to organize, and are vital for their survival and betterment.

GE LIB. Establish GE libraries in dormitories through books collected in activities such as ACLE and the UP Fair “bagsakan.”

Styro-free UP. Food concessionaires in UP are now prohibited from using styrofoam containers. In advancing this advocacy, we shall now campaign to encourage organizations, students, and other formations to stop using Styrofoam during events and in their daily operations. ISKO NG BAYAN. Lecture Series Launch and institutionalize the practice of study and research for the development of our country. Through coordination with faculty members and department, students themselves may read and present their papers, which will tackle the analysis of various issues in our country and proposed solutions. Market! Market! In coordination with local student councils, conduct a Finance Management and Marketing Seminar for the benefit of student organizations.

Go for Gold! Call for widespread promotion and support for the varsity and non-varsity athletes. Publicize the victory of our varsity teams through Fighting Maroons Online. Encourage support, financial and otherwise, from our alumni. Level UFS. Continue to oppose the privatization of the University Food Service. Call for university support for healthy, nutritious, and cheap food for students through the UFS. Oppose the establishment/ entry of private concessionaires aimed at profit making. Palarong Pinoy. Include Filipino games in the annual inter-college sports fest. Feature the games in a special section in the Fighting Maroons Online. No disALLOWANCE. Support the call for more scholarships for athletes and artists/performers in the university. Ensure that their allowance and stipends are received on time. Call for an increase in allowance, with tuition and dorm fees discount for Student Assistants (SAs). AIR Desk. Establish the Academic Issues Response Air Desk, where various concerns including student-teacher relations, political harassment, and other issues which trouble the academics of students can be aired out with proper redress from concerned offices. Ka-FRESHness! Establish the Freshman Council composed of different block heads with its own set of officers to address the various concerns of freshmen and serve as a support group. The Freshman Council Office may be placed at the Lorena Barros Hall.

Mula sa Masa, Tungo sa Masa. Organize regular basic masses integration to expose the UP students (including the international and foreign students) to the situation of other sectors, including farmers, workers, indigenous peoples, and urban poor communities. At the same time, encourage students to conduct training (literacy, leadership, sanitation, etc) needed by such communities.

Advocate and champion campaigns for nationalist change

Stop Dance: CHA-CHA. Establish a broad alliance, encompassing all sectors from students, workers, and faculty, to oppose charter change which compromises national sovereignty and democratic interest of the Filipino people.

Oil Price Watch. Affirm the unity of the All UP Transport Alliance to lead the fight against oil deregulation law. Assert government regulation on oil price to protect the consumers from profiteering of oil cartels which results to rising oil prices, and consequently, rising cost of basic commodities.

Bantay Karapatan. In cooperation with TANGGULAN PEOPLE’S NETWORK, a wide network of organizations defending human rights, we shall organize concerts, film showings, forum, and video exposes that critically tackle the present state of human rights in the country. Oppose Oplan Bayanihan which sets the condition for the continuation of human rights violations and witch-hunting brought about by Oplan Bantay Laya.

Lupa ay Laya. As part of our campaign for genuine agrarian reform, we will push for the adoption of the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill (GARB) and other supplementary activities in UP- such as Lakbayan, Peasant Community Integration, and forum in campus. We shall revisit points of history, the struggles of our hardworking farmers and be inspired to take action. Establish the HUSTISYA LUISITA alliance. Industriya, Kaya Natin! Advocate National Industrialization to fortify our domestic industries. Call for a University geared towards this direction. Oppose economic policies which hinder the conditions for national industrialization.

Rock for Wage. We shall continue to push for just wages and benefits for employees and workers of the country. Oppose contractualization inside and outside the university. Empo(W)er. Women’s emancipation is part of our campaign. Through symposia, research, and consultation, and massive information drive, we shall examine the changing socio-economic landscape in which the female is exploited both as workers and objects of mere possession.

Minority Report. We support the claim of the Bangsamoro and the indigenous peoples (IPs) for their right to self-determination and equal rights. We shall arrange socio-cultural activities to facilitate a dynamic exchange between the students and the Bangsamoro & IPs. Sigaw ng Kalikasan, Dinig ng Kabataan. Many IPs and communities have either been displaced or deprived of their ancestral land due to mining and other extractive activities harmful to the environment. Through forums and video expose, we will promote the sustainable use of the environment that caters t the local and national demand. We shall campaign against government policies which are harmful to the environment such as the Mining Act and JPEPA.

Stop HRVs. Join in militant action and campaigns against continuing human rights violations, extrajudicial killings, and enforced disappearances. Participate in the movement for Justice to Dr. Leonard Co. Oppose Oplan Bayanihan. Justice to all the victims of HRVs, including each Iskolar ng Bayan on the list of victims: Karen Empeño, Sherlyn Cadapan, James Balao, Jaq Gonzales and Malen Serato.

Health Services. Uphold the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) as a public hospital accessible to all. Counter privatization of the health services in the Philippines.

Tulong Kabataan. A quick response relief operations for calamities.

Broaden our fight and further our collective action UP KILOS NA PARA SA EDUKASYON AT KARAPATAN. UP System-wide multi-sectoral alliance which responds to local and national issues that threatens our right to education and basic social services

STRIKE THE HIKE Alliance. An alliance which calls for government support to public utilities such as transportation, water supply, electricity, among others. Oppose the ongoing privatization of these services. Struggle against the fare hikes (MRT-LRT) and price hikes. The Oblation (and the Oblation Online). Continue the bi-semestral publication of the Oblation, the official USC publication, and maximize the internet for news updates and information dissemination.

UP United. Strenghten the various existing alliances and formations within UP which are crucial in the continuing struggle to uphold our rights and address the problems of the university.

All Leaders Conference (ALC). Institutionalize the All Leaders Conference (ALC) as venue for consultation and unity among student organizations.

Diliman Student Summit and College Convocation. Conduct regular College Assemblies in coordination with the local student councils and a once a semester Diliman Students Summit. League of College Councils (LCC). Further advance the unity and consolidation of college councils. Serve as a campaign center, a support system among student councils, and as a venue for USC consultation.

Multisectoral alliance. An alliance of various sectors in the University such as but not limited to drivers, vendors, employees, janitors, residents, students, and teachers to serve as a network to coordinate campaigns and address specific and general issues faced by the UP community.

Alliance of Concerned Dormitories (ACD). Utilize the ACD as a means to respond to the concerns of our dormers, and ensure regular activities and consultation with dorm residents. Draft its own year-long campaign for the improvement of dorm facilities and services.

SIS! Support the Inter-sorority council and ensure its close coordination with the USC. Serve as campaign center for gender issues, student issues, and even people’s issues.

FRAT-ing Mapayapa. Convene the Inter-fraternity Council as a step to eliminate the conditions for fraternity disputes. We shall tap the huge potentials of fraternities in advancing students’ and people’s rights. Encourage fraternities to work together to advance common goals and advocacies.

KASAMA sa UP & NUSP. Become an active member of the Katipunan ng mga Sangguniang Mag-aaral sa UP (KASAMA sa UP) to unite with other student councils in the UP system. Also, unite with other SCs in the Philippines through the National Union of Students in the Philippines (NUSP). Support the campaigns of the Office of the Student Regent and forward policies to the BOR through OSR.

Volunteer Corps. Train future leaders of our University through the USC Volunteer Corps. Assign its own office in the Vinzons Hall or at the Lorena Barros Hall to ensure a strong volunteer center.

People’s Corps. Different mass organizations and other student formations who advocate various people’s issues shall be convened into a corps which shall serve as campaign center for national concerns and basic masses issues.

Acad Core. Continue to convene the core of academic organizations to forward common advocacies and establish a support system for activities and events. Encourage the production of research and study outputs which address the important concerns in the University and the country. Envi Core. Establish an alliance of environmental advocates to serve as network for campaign and advocacies inside & outside the university. Organize basic massess integration to see the relationship between the oppression of people and exploitation of environment.

Interfaith Assembly. Different faith, same advocacy. Respect of human dignity and love for others. This shall be the principle to bind various religious organizations to form an assembly to encourage religious formations to conduct activities together for common advocacy for human rights and love for others.

Sa sama-samang pagkilos, tiyak ang tagumpay. ATIN ANG LAKAS, ATIN ANG BUKAS! Iskolar ng Bayan, tuloy ang laban tungo sa Tunay na pagbabago!

See Also

http://www.facebook.com/STAND.UPdiliman?ref=ts&fref=ts | www.standupdiliman.com