Students' Party for Equality and Advancement of Knowledge | |
| Predecessor | PUP Alliance Resisting Repression of Students (ARREST) |
|---|---|
| Formation | September 8, 2014; 11 years ago (2014-09-08) |
| Dissolved | 2022 |
| Type | Sociopoliticalstudent organization |
| Headquarters | Charlie del Rosario Building,Polytechnic University of the Philippines |
| Location | |
| The Iskolars united, will never be defeated! | |
Key people | Medel "Dhel" Pulanco (Founder) Elijah San Fernando,CSSD (Founding Chairperson) |
| Subsidiaries | Sectoral affiliates
|
Party flag andsymbol | |
Students' Party for Equality and Advancement of Knowledge (SPEAK) was a non-profit student political party in thePolytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP).[1] PUP SPEAK was one of the organizations that pushed for the university's "national polytechnic university" status, with an allocation of additional ₱3 billion budget annually.[2] It also launched the "academic ease" campaign, where it pushed for the implementation of measures that aimed to help students and educators to quickly adapt todistance learning, brought by theCOVID-19 pandemic.[3] The campaign was supported byEducation SecretaryLeonor Briones. SPEAK also supports asmoke-free environment for thenew normal.[4]
SPEAK was formed after its predecessor, PUP Alliance Resisting Repression of Students (ARREST), successfully mounted a campaign to remove a college dean accused of corruption. Since then, the organization has focused on the issues ofstudents' rights,women andLGBT rights,labor rights,environmental protection,anti-Marcos burial to heroes' cemetery, anti-religious discrimination, and anti-dictatorship, among many others.[5] The organization had been the rulingpolitical party of thePUP Central Student Council from 2016 to 2021.[6] In 2017, the organization has been tagged as "[university] administration-leaning", after its founding chairman and then-incumbent PUP Central Student Council President Elijah San Fernando organized the election of the student representative to the university'sboard of regents.[7][8]
In 2020, SPEAK together with various organization under the leadership of Office of the Student Regent (OSR) held abenefit concert on theuniversity oval grounds to support the mid-to-long-term rehabilitation of the communities affected by theTaal volcano eruption. The concert, which was attended by over 15,000 people, was headlined byParokya ni Edgar,Itchyworms,Gloc-9, andRocksteddy.[9]
In the same year, SPEAK joined in decrying the detention of its member-volunteer from the mechanical engineering department over alleged violations of theenhanced community quarantine. Joining the call to release the student were human rights lawyersChel Diokno andErin Tanada, who called the arrest a form of "harassment".[10][11] TheManila Police District hastagged the organization as a "rejectionist group" from theCommunist Party of the Philippinesdivide and claimed that it was exploiting the arrest as part of itsagitation-propaganda campaign against thePhilippine National Police and theDuterte administration.[12][13]
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