I never truly understood the power that we have even as students until the One Big Strike protest that rattled the Ateneo Community in November 2020.
The protest was initiated by a group of students that called for the Duterte administration to take action and provide a better emergency response in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The manifesto detailed several demands from the petitioners and called for students to stop fulfilling their academic requirements until the demands were met. As the petition gained more traction, the student body was polarized to the point that it was elevated to the Sanggunian’s Central Assembly (CA) for the CA’s endorsement to gain more support.
With the Council of Organizations of the Ateneo – Manila (COA-M) being a sectoral representative in the CA, we were called to endorse the petition. However, we took this not as a decision to be taken lightly as it required the consensus of all COA member organizations. Orgs were pressured into voicing out their political stance within a short period of time—something that not many were used to. At one point, I would find myself sitting in Discord calls with organizations at 1 AM as they convened to discuss whether they would support the petition or not.
Many student leaders at the time might consider One Big Strike as one of the most challenging events that we faced as an org community in 2020. Eventually, the consensus was to not endorse the petition.
As I started my term as COA-M President this year, I thought about this event and how we could have all handled it better. Personally, I agreed with the intent of the petition and would have wanted to express support, though I don’t believe that it was an effective way of responding to the needs of the crisis at the time. However, if there is anything for us to learn from this, it’s our capacity to be heard, to take action, and hopefully, to affect meaningful change—especially within our organizations.
Organizations have always been a central part of student life in the Ateneo. Here, students are able to find spaces for them to better live out their advocacies and meet like-minded people who share their interests. This community acts as a microcosm of the wider Philippine society, and as members, we are trained not only to be effective and skilled within our own organizations, but also as responsible citizens of the country. It’s no secret that as Ateneans, we have the privilege of being sheltered from the harshness of reality. But this is also exactly what our Ateneo education today fights against.
Orgs play a significant role in student involvement because within these circles lay the heart of organized student life in the Ateneo. During times of external crises, orgs must take a stand and use their platforms to address social issues. This is where our role in nation-building comes in.
The events of One Big Strike shocked many both inside and outside of the Ateneo because of how radical the protest seemed. It placed every org in a position where they had to take a stand in an issue that had an impact beyond their organization.
However, perhaps this is a good time for us to be reminded that when Martial Law was declared in 1972, many of our organizations and student groups were dissolved as the state feared how student involvement would ignite the minds of many. Yet Ateneans have never been quiet when it comes to dissent.
Rather than succumbing to the external pressures of a dictatorship, Ateneans instead took this expanded consciousness and geared it towards serving communities, and subsequently, the nation. This gave birth to some of the organizations that we still have today, as well as the Office of Social Concern and Involvement—all formed as a response to the political context of the time. The declaration of Martial Law catalyzed the manifestation of Jesuit ideals for organizations such as “forming men and women for others,” and has set the context for the org community we know today.
Coming from the challenges that the past years has brought, may we take this experience and learn from it. As we navigate this new setting that the org community has been thrusted into this year, may we continue to remember why we are part of these organizations and why we commit ourselves to what we do. Most of all, may we learn and have the courage to step outside of the bubble we are in as Ateneans—to heed the call of the greater challenge that the country faces today.
Nina San Andres is the sitting President of the Council of Organizations of the Ateneo – Manila. She is a senior currently taking up AB Communications and BFA Information Design. For more, you can reach her at assumpta.sanandres@obf.ateneo.edu.
