MANILA, Philippines — Private institution Far Eastern University (FEU) and its student government have been issuing conflicting statements on whether the school should be involved in politics during the 2022 elections.
The FEU Central Student Organization said that being apolitical is not a part of their core values of fortitude, excellence and uprightness.
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"Education has always been political. World War II, Martial Law, Extrajudicial Killings, History has proven that our university has pushed back against grave injustices and abuse of power," the group said in a statement shared on Facebook on Friday.
They said this in response to the university's earlier statement that FEU has been "traditionally apolitical" as now-deleted photos of female student-athletes showing their support to presidential candidate Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. and vice presidential bet Sara Duterte-Carpio made rounds online.
"FEU students and employees can endorse any candidate running for elections in their own personal capacity. They do not represent the University," the school said on Friday.
Marcos, the son of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos Sr., is currently the survey frontrunner, based on the latest voters' preference polls of private pollster Pulse Asia. His running mate Duterte-Carpio is also leading in the firm's surveys. These surveys only measure the respondents' sentiments at the time they were interviewed.
The national and local elections are set to take place this May 9. — Angelica Y. Yang