 implication ng efforts ng college of science dati sa diliman commune para sa politicial sit ngayon

 call to action na yung mga siyentista ay ready magdefend ng taumbayan when the need rises
o Break free from neutral science

Working Title: Sciencing Our Way Out

Outline:
I. CS during Martial Law
a. Owing to a rich history of activism, the College of Science have proven that their wit and
wisdom could serve as a powerful deterrent against malicious forces.
b. In this age of trolls, anti-vaxxers, and a creeping dictatorship, the college must once again
recognize its authority and use its voice to speak truth to power.
II. A Politically Involved CS
a. The idea of a politically involved College of Science is not new. In the days of the
Diliman Commune, professors from the Physics department created self-igniting
molotovs, while those from Chemistry transformed huge LPG tanks into flame throwers
as defensive weapons against military incursions into the university. Students and faculty
manned the barricades of the Faculty Center, while others were broadcasting the events in
the university from DZUP.
b. These and other recollections from Judy Taguiwalo, a former student-activist of the
1970s and former professor in UP Diliman, paint the picture of a unified and politically
involved College of Science during the Diliman Commune. The enemy was a dictator in
the person of Ferdinand Marcos. UP professors and students had to unify against his
administration’s pressing militarization in the campus and against the rising oil prices at
the time.
c. In the end, the combined efforts from the different colleges of UP have managed to expel
military forces from the university, and in 1986, helped bring about the ouster of Marcos
from the presidency.

III. New malicious forces

a. That was before. Today, new malicious forces are once again trying to invade our public
spheres.
i. Trolls and false news continue to poison our information ecosystem.
1. A 2017 Oxford study found that Duterte’s campaign spent around 10.5
million php in troll farms to create a false impression of support in social
media.
2. Even after taking office, this administration continued to capitalize on
fake news. Last March, Facebook took down a network of fake accounts
intended to spread fake news and ran by the social media manager of the
Duterte campaign
ii. Added to this is the scientific misinformation perpetrated by government
officials.
1. The vaccine scaremongering of Public Attorney’s Office chief Persida
Acosta led to the decline of public confidence on vaccines, which then
led to the measles outbreak and reemergence of polio.

iii. But chief among our concerns is a creeping dictatorship of this administration
whose implications go far beyond misinformation.
 1. Unresolved extrajudicial killings and human rights violations, especially
in Mindanao, hint at the breakdown of our institutions supposedly
designed to serve as a check against grave abuses of the executive.
2. The kowtowing of Congress and the Supreme Court to Duterte enable
this administration’s stifling of dissent of student, environmental, and
journalist-activists. Their silence on Duterte’s failure on promulgating
his mandate of defending the West Philippine Sea against China in
exchange for shady infrastructure deals goes to show that the executive
has become too powerful and continues to be left unchecked.

IV. The Role of UP Scientists and Science Students

a. Where can the College of Science situate itself in in this political arena?
i. As one of the country’s leading producers of scientists, it bears the responsibility
to uphold not only scientific literacy but to take on the mantle of leadership in
scientific policy.
1. It must take a proactive stance on national issues that are especially
science related by improving communication and coordination with local
government units and law enforcement agencies.
ii. One of the things students can do is to pressure their institutes to speak out on
relevant issues that are within their fields of expertise.
1. One good example of this is Institute of Biology’s (IB) public statement
against the release of invasive species by the National Integrated
Fisheries Technology Development Center-Bureau of Fisheries and
Aquatic Resources (NIFTDC-BFAR) as a solution to dengue outbreak in
Dagupan, Pangasinan.
2. Such prompt statement from IB can set as an example for other institutes
to recognize their authority on scientific issues and their power to
influence public policy.
b. In addition to policy, the college must also step up its public information campaigns to
combat against false news.
1. It must utilize the power of social media as a force of information
dissemination. If it were to have information seminars, it must utilize
online streaming services to improve their public reach that are currently
limited within the UP community.
c. Join wider calls for freedom and human rights
i. Finally, it must also recognize that its voice must be used not only on science-
related issues but also on wider political issues. In the face of today’s creeping
dictatorship, it must once again remember its place in history as a powerful force
against tyranny and one-man rule. It can do this by joining wider calls for
freedom and human rights and by being one with the UP community and civil
society at large in the fight against the abuses of this administration. Only by
using its voice to influence policy and public opinion can we, in the words of
Mark Watney, science the heck out of this.