CAGAYAN DE ORO, Philippines – Organized campus journalists from two of the largest universities in Northern Mindanao joined various groups in decrying alleged attempts to suppress a student-community publication work in Camarines Sur.
The groups also criticized Camarines Sur 2nd District Representative Luis Raymond “L-ray” Villafuerte’s response to a pre-election survey published by The SPARK which showed him trailing behind in the province’s gubernatorial race among students.
The SPARK is the official student publication of the state-run Camarines Sur Polytechnic Colleges (CSPC).
The Cagayan de Oro-based The Crusader and The Liceo U Student Press expressed solidarity with their Camarines Sur counterpart, which organized a 2025 midterm elections preference poll among students, emphasizing that campus newspapers play a crucial role in representing and amplifying the voices of the youth.
The Crusader is the official student paper of the Jesuit-run Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan, while The Liceo U Student Press is that of Liceo de Cagayan University.
“Any attempts of suppression towards campus press are undemocratic. It is an attack on the fundamental right to expression, curtailing the freedom of the press,” read part of a statement released by The Crusader.
Villafuerte and his supporters pushed back against The SPARK after a December survey at CSPC-Nabua Campus showed him with 150 votes, or 30.1%, out of 498 respondents, while his opponent, Bong Rodriguez of the Nationalist People’s Coalition, led with 214 votes, or 43%. The rest, 26.9%, were undecided.
The SPARK has alleged that its staff was initially asked by a university official to remove the content about the pre-election survey, warning them of repercussions.
Villafuerte’s son Miguel, representative of Camarines Sur’s 5th District, sits in the university’s board of trustees, representing Committee on Higher and Technical Education Chairperson Mark Go. He is the head of a political dynasty in the province which includes his other son, Governor Vincenzo Renato Luigi Villafuerte.
The elder Villafuerte has accused The SPARK associate editor Fernan Matthew Enimedez of bias, calling him a supporter of former vice president Leni Robredo. A Facebook page also associated with Villafuerte accused Enimedez as a peddler of fake news who was supposedly favoring the congressman’s rival.
He also called the survey results “fake,” questioning its credibility because votes were collected through Google Form. He also asked how The SPARK could verify whether the responses came from CSPC students.
The SPARK responded to Villafuerte’s claims, clarifying that the electronic form used was accessible only to CSPC students.
The Liceo U Student Press, meanwhile, expressed concern over the repression faced by campus journalists, citing the case of The SPARK and Enimedez.
“With the political climate in the nation at an all-time frenzy, the continued perpetration of censorship and repression towards student publications and individual journalists must not be put out of the equation,” it said in a statement.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) has criticized the way Villafuerte responded to The SPARK’s work, calling his actions “a preview and a reminder of what journalists face during elections and a disgusting illustration of how comfortable entrenched power is with pressuring the press.”
The group urged academic institutions to uphold freedom of speech and expression. “While the Villafuerte name may be on a CSPC building, the family does not own the school, much less its community,” NUJP added.
Meanwhile, the Journalism Studies Association of the Philippines (JSAP) reminded all public officials, including Villafuerte, of the Bill of Rights and the Campus Journalism Act of 1991, which mandates the government to uphold and protect press freedom even at the campus level.
“Mock polls, it should be pointed out, are time-honored traditions on college campuses. These exercises reflect the voice of students, whose futures will be determined by the results of the local and national elections,” JSAP said. – Rappler.com