Bulacan campus journalists decry closure of school paper

MALOLOS — Editors of the school publication in Bulacan’s largest public university have decried the closure of their newspaper.

Sheena dela Cruz, editor-in-chief of Pacesetter, the official student publication of the Bulacan State University, told The STAR that the decision of the school president, Rosario Pimentel, to padlock their office and stop their operations is a serious attack on press freedom and a repression of academic freedom and civil liberties.

In an office memorandum dated August 3, 2005, Pimentel ordered Dela Cruz, Rose Ann Sanciangco, Chrismil Maning, Glesselle Adona, Don Johnson Manlapig, Lester Bryan Tonga and Lourland Paul Delumen and all other persons acting in their behalf, orders and instructions, to physically vacate the office of the Pacesetter and cease from operating it on grounds that the editorial board organized themselves without any sanction from the university administration as provided for by the Campus Journalism Act of 1991.

Pimentel added in her order that the editors "used the Pacesetter as a vehicle in attacking maliciously the good image of the university and its responsible officers."

Dela Cruz said that with what happened, the students felt a little less secure about the system of education in the school, since they have nowhere to go when the administration curtails their right to expression to seek redress from grievances.

David Michael San Juan, former managing editor of the campus paper, said that the editorial board would continue to fight for their right to expression and be the vanguards of democracy in their school.