Thomasians, journalists hit red-baiting of UST journalism head

admin December 30, 2020

A RIGHT-WING Facebook page, “The Right Thomasian,” drew the ire of Thomasians and journalists after red-baiting the head of the UST journalism program in a blind item.

The Facebook page, created on April 11, 2020, claimed in a post that an Arts and Letters faculty member was recruiting students for the communist rebellion.

It claimed that the faculty member was a former editor in chief of Bulatlat, a member of the Altermidya network that was red-baited in a Dec. 1 Senate hearing, and left the clues “Pilipinas,” “Salbabida” and “‘the second’ hokage,” seemingly alluding to UST journalism program head Felipe Salvosa II.

Salvosa clarified on Facebook and in a Twitter thread that he neither recruited students for the rebellion nor was he a part of Bulatlat.

“As a faculty member and journalism program head of UST, I am fully committed to the rules and regulations of the University, its vision and mission, its Catholic identity, and to the molding of committed, compassionate and competent Thomasians,” Salvosa said in a tweet.

“Whoever is running this page is spreading a malicious and unfounded accusation via a seemingly innocuous blind item,” he added.

Salvosa is an assistant adviser of the Varsitarian, where he was editor in chief from 2000 to 2001. A former editor of the Manila Times, he now edits for the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) and PressOne.PH.

“The owners of this page should show evidence that I recruited for the armed rebellion, not hide behind anonymity and blind items. I reserve my right to any legal recourse to protect my reputation,” he said.

In a separate post, the Facebook page said its administrators would “not confirm or deny” its blind items.

“Our blind items sobrang vague ng clues namin it could be anyone you imagine lmao. Malay niyo fictional pala ‘yun at jumbled facts lang,” it said.

Salvosa posted screenshots of the page’s posts and comments and tweeted: “Disinformation. Character assassination. Malicious insinuation. No attribution. Exactly the things we warn our journalism students about.”

Bulatlat associate editor Danilo Arao clarified that he was the only one from the news outfit who teaches journalism. Arao is a faculty member of the University of the Philippines and the Polytechnic University of the Philippines.

“To red-tag a UST journalism professor is illogical even if this FB page claims to be pontifical,” he tweeted.

The PCIJ denounced The Right Thomasian’s red-baiting.

“Red-tagging is a very irresponsible practice that puts people and organizations in danger and should be called out and stopped,” it said.

Asst. Prof. Christian Esguerra of the journalism program called the administrators of The Right Thomasian “cowards” for the “malicious and baseless red-baiting victimizing a highly respected journalist and educator.”

Rappler reporter Lian Buan, a journalism alumna, retweeted Salvosa and said “The red-tagging has to stop.”

Philstar reporter Xave Gregorio, an alumnus, tweeted: “Not just malicious, but also very dangerous to all faculty members of the UST Journalism School.”

In 2018, UST was included in a list of schools deemed as recruitment grounds of communists by Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr. of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict.

READ: UST condemns AFP’s ‘red-tagging’

In response to The Right Thomasian’s posts, some Thomasians called for the intervention of UST officials.

“University of Santo Tomas, you allow this?” one social media user wrote.

“In the prevailing context where red-tagged individuals become targets of bullying and harassment, this is unacceptable. We should not let this pass. @UST1611official,” said another.

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