Inquirer columnist Randy David weighs in on the Toboso massacre in his piece “The other tasks of the university”. What the leftist-militant idiots are now calling a “massacre” is what the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) described as an encounter with elements of the New People’s Army (NPA), the terrorist arm of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).
What is the role of the university? This is the question he asks in a bid to disassociate the University of the Philippines from its identity as a hotbed of leftist-liberal sentiments owing to communist capture of its bureaucracy. Thus, it is fitting that David opens the topic with this: “Each time a University of the Philippines (UP) student is killed or arrested in a military encounter, I am asked why our classrooms breed radicals”, to which he responds…
The most urgent accountability for what happened in Toboso belongs elsewhere, with the state and those who command its weapons, and with the inquiries now underway. The question I ask here is smaller and turned inward. It is the only question I can answer with confidence.
For every student who leaves school or the professional path to join the underground, there are many others who go through the rituals of professional qualification aspiring to nothing more than becoming a billionaire before 50. For both, the university must somehow bear some responsibility.
This is how most UP alums in the know, who have taught there, have characterized why there is a only a certain group which moves up the career ladder at the premier state university. What David doesn’t answer is how responsible they are for this outcome and how stupid they are not to teach the students of the harsh realities of politics and political ideology as a tool for social reform. They don’t teach UP students such as those who died at Toboso how futile their efforts are because the system is corrupt – even their own system of leftist-militant groups which are the front organizations of the CPP-NPA-NDF (last acronym stands for National Democratic Front).
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Since there was a large number of supposed non-combatants who died at Toboso, their allies are now calling for a congressional inquiry. But this misses the point. If you take up arms against the state, the latter has the obligation to take equal action against you. You can be killed in the process and that’s part of the risk. The problem is the moronic leaders of this group who don’t go underground in the mountains enjoy their bohemian lifestyles at their expense. And when the shit hits the fan, they shout to high heavens, pagpupugay, matinding pagpupugay.
It’s all bullshit. UP hasn’t contributed to nation-building because it’s the hotbed of activism and rebellion against the state. The students’ tuition are subsidized by public funds which aren’t put to good use after graduation. They either end up in the mountains, in government or a cushy job in the private sector. In government some get eaten up by the system and engage in corrupt activities. This is the reality. One which even the leadership of the leftist-militant groups lie about to their recruits.
- Rather than own up to their role in the Toboso “massacre” of the “Negros 19”, leftist and commie militants blame the state - May 3, 2026
- Token outrage and politically-motivated street rallies contribute very little to the reform agenda - December 1, 2025
- Renovate or detonate? Can a profoundly-corrupt society like the Philippines be fixed without first killing it at its roots? - October 23, 2025