PISD - Philippines Institute for Student Democracy

10/03/2026

28/02/2026

Last February 25, 2026, we celebrated the 40th Anniversary of the People Power Revolution. Let us remember the ideals that brought together Filipinos from all walks of life — including the youth and students who stood at the forefront of change — united for a brighter future founded on democracy, liberty, and justice.

Let’s prove that student power is still the catalyst for a better nation — carrying forward the spirit of People Power in our daily lives and shaping a future guided by courage, integrity, and hope.

27/02/2026

Thank you to everyone who visited our booth! It was a pleasure meeting you in the celebration of the 𝟰𝟬𝘁𝗵 𝗔𝗻𝗻𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗣𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. Let us all continue to remember and honor the legacy of People Power by living outs its ideals as we continue the fight for a brighter Philippines

𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗣𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝘀 𝗣𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗣𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿

25/02/2026

𝗦𝗧𝗨𝗗𝗘𝗡𝗧 𝗣𝗢𝗪𝗘𝗥 𝗜𝗦 𝗣𝗘𝗢𝗣𝗟𝗘 𝗣𝗢𝗪𝗘𝗥! ✊🔥

As we mark the 𝟰𝟬𝘁𝗵 𝗔𝗻𝗻𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗮𝗿𝘆 of the 𝐄𝐃𝐒𝐀 𝐏𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, we remind ourselves that "People Power" isn't just a moment in a textbook. It’s a living, breathing responsibility.

The youth have always been the heartbeat of change. Whether you’re here to learn the history or to help write the next chapter, we want to meet you!

Find us at 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝘁𝗵 #𝟭𝟬 for meaningful conversations on our current advocacies, volunteer sign-ups, and community activities.

Let’s prove that student power is still the catalyst for a better nation.

12/12/2025

PISD is a signatory to the letter of Cardinal Ambo David to the President urging him to establish a National Truth Commission.

12/12/2025

Our Executive Director Isaiah Crisanto signed on behalf of the Institute as we join the call to pass Anti-Dynasty legislation.

12/12/2025

12/12/2025

𝐉𝐎𝐈𝐍𝐓 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓
𝐍𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐌𝐁𝐄𝐑 𝟐𝟎, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓
𝐄𝐍𝐑𝐈𝐋𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐀 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐎. 𝐑𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐌𝐁𝐄𝐑 𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐒.
“...𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘳𝘰𝘵.”
— Proverbs 10:7
We, the undersigned organizations, civil society groups, and individuals from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, oppose the reported burial of Martial Law architect, former Senate President, and Presidential Chief Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile on the supposedly sacred grounds of the Libingan ng mga Bayani on November 22.
Enrile was no ordinary technocrat or politician. His sins against the Filipino nation and his legacy of impunity had inflicted an immeasurable damage to so many of our countrymen. He never paid for these sins. Neither did he apologize for any of them.
Among his sins were:
1. The conduct of a fake ambush on himself on the evening of September 22, 1972, which allowed the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. to impose Martial Law;
2. His participation in the so-called Rolex 12, a group of 11 military officials and one civilian who helped Marcos Sr. craft Proclamation 1081;
3. The countless brutal massacres that he waged in Mindanao, as Marcos Sr’s Defense Minister and Martial Law's chief architect: Manili Massacre (1971), Burning of Jolo (1974), Palimbang Massacre (1974), Pata Island Massacre (1982), to name a few;
4. The brutal killings of 45 residents of Barrio Sag-od, Las Navas, Northern Samar, on September 15, 1981. They were killed by members of Lost Command, a paramilitary group who also acted as private goons of one of Enrile's logging corporations, San Jose Timber Corporation;
5. His issuances of Arrest, Search, and Seizure Orders (ASSO), Presidential Commitment Orders (PCO), and Preventive Detention Action (PDA) alongside other coercive Marcos decrees, which led to tens of thousands of incarcerations and torture of dissenters and Marcos Sr’s political enemies in military camps and secret safehouses, as well as countless enforced disappearances and executions;
6. His collusion with the late Marcos crony Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco in the stealing of billions in coconut levy funds from farmers all over the country;
7. The widespread deforestation of the entire Philippine forest cover that were conducted by Enrile's logging companies and timber concessionaires;
8. His role in cheating the 1986 snap presidential elections, which he admitted in that historic press conference with the late Fidel V. Ramos at Camp Aguinaldo on February 22, 1986; and
9. His equally infamous role in launching seven to nine coup attempts to destabilize the government of the late president Corazon C. Aquino, which left hundreds of people dead (soldiers and civilians alike), “salvaged” progressive leaders such as Rolando Olalia, and scarred the nation in the immediate post-EDSA era.
Later in life, he was also implicated in the 2013 pork barrel scam, which involved the theft of millions of public funds.
Enrile's burial at the LNMB, like the burial of the dictator in that same cemetery on November 18, 2016, will send the wrong message: That crime pays, that the corrupt and the powerful can always escape punishment, that murder and corruption would be rebranded in death as ‘heroism’—while so many of their victims continue to endure pain and injustice.
Neither Enrile nor the Marcoses have ever been held accountable for the brutalities and plunder of the Marcos Sr. dictatorship. The burial of the dictator already defiled the honor of the heroes laid to rest at LNMB. Will we add another scoundrel into the mix?
Let us make this clear: the burial of Juan Ponce Enrile at the Libingan ng mga Bayani is historical distortion. It is a lie that, yet again, whitewashes the crimes of the Marcos Sr. dictatorship.
It is also a continuing act of impunity. While small criminals go to prison, powerful culprits like Enrile remain scot-free — and, in death, they are decorated as a false hero.
Juan Ponce Enrile is not a hero.
He never was, and he never will be.
We strongly oppose Enrile’s burial at the LNMB. We will instead remember and pay homage to his countless victims. We trust that history will soon mete out its truthful judgment on Enrile and his dark legacies. #
Signed:
𝗢𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀
Project Gunita
Active Vista
AGHAM - Advocates of Science and Technology for the People
Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD)
Ateneo Student Catholic Action
August Twenty-One Movement (ATOM)
Bayan Muna - Southern Mindanao
Biyaya Animal Care
BPO Industry Employees Network (BIEN)
Bulatlat
Buhay Ang People Power Campaign Network (BAPP)
Bunyog Pagkakaisa Party
Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses and Martial Law (CARMMA)
Concerned Artists of the Philippines (CAP)
Cordillera Human Rights Alliance (CHRA)
Council for People's Development and Governance (CPDG)
DAKILA
DAKILA Iloilo
Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearances (FIND)
Federation of Free Workers
FFW Women’s Network
Free Jonas Burgos Movement
GoodGovPH
Human Rights and People Empowerment Center (HRPEC)
Hustisya
Ilocos Norte Tropang Angat
Kababaihang Liberal
Kapulungan ng mga Sandigan ng Pilipinas (KASAPI)
Karapatan
Lingap Bilanggo
Makabayan Artists’ Circle
Movement Against Tyranny - Panay
National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP)
National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP)
National Union of Peoples' Lawyers (NUPL)
Northern Dispatch
Nutribun Republic
Panatang Luntian
Partido Manggagawa
Partido Sosyalista
People's Budget Coalition
People's Choice Movement
Philippine Institute for Student Democracy (PISD)
PHINMA University of Iloilo Commission on Elections
Pro-Labor Legal Assistance Center, Co. (PLACE)
PUP Economics Research Society
PUP House of Parliamentarians
SAMASA Alumni Association
Samahan ng mga Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto (SELDA)
SELDA - Panay
Sentro Para sa Tunay na Repormang Agraryo
Sining Lila
SLU Political Science Academic Society (SLU POSAS)
Student Christian Movement of the Philippines (SCMP)
Surian ng Sining
Survivors' Hub (Martial Law '72-'86)
Tambisan sa Sining
Tanggol Kasaysayan
Tindig Pilipinas
Union of Peoples' Lawyers in Mindanao (UPLM)
Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA)
UP Hingyap
UP Mindanao College of Humanities and Social Sciences Student Council
UP Mindanao College of Mathematics and Sciences Student Council
UP Mindanao University Student Council
Western Visayas Youth and Student Alliance
Young Free Workers
𝗜𝗻𝗱𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗱𝘂𝗮𝗹𝘀
Kenneth Isaiah Ibasco Abante
Jose Alex Anung
Ronnel Arambulo
Elaine Aznar
Former Cong. Walden Bello
Reycel Hyacenth Nacario Bendaña
Gian Bermudo
Normel Bermundo
Arlie Bosque
Alec Hope Buenaventura
Edith Burgos
Atty. Alison Zoe Caballero
Atty. Lisa Marie J. Clemente
Prof. Xiao Chua
Rizza Duro
Janine Del Mundo
Atty. Dino de Leon
Sinag de Leon
Bea del Rio
Suwaidi Alba Ebrahim
Elmer Forro
Prof. Francis Gealogo
Prof. Emy Ruth Gianan
Christian Gultia
Bryan Ezra Cainglet Gonzales
Gemma Lee
Simoun Magsalin
Sr. Mary John Mananzan
Former Cong. Raoul Manuel
Mary Abigail Modales
Raevene Raeanne B. Morillo
Katrina Navarro
Atty. Edre Olalia
Auldrin Oribello
Rina Ortiz
Atty. Jobert Ilarde Pahilga
Estela Paredes
Atty. Marben M. Panlasigui
Atty. Josiah David Quising
Francine Ranada
Therese Zsa S. Raval
Jet C. Riparip
Kayla Nicole T. De Quiroz-Salazar
Timothy Salomon
Alexander Sardon
Abdul Rauf Sissay
Robert “Culex” Soliman
Karl Patrick Suyat
Atty. Antonio M. Topacio
Atty. Vicente Jaime “VJ” Topacio
Raul Samuel A. Purcia

30/08/2025

"Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

The PISD stands in solidarity with all student journalists and publications on National Press Freedom Day and their demands to keep the student press free.

Many student publications face serious issues of administrative intervention, withholding of publication funds, censorship and legal threats to name a few.

In the past year we've witnessed the impunity by which public and university officials have abused their power to try to silence student journalists for simply doing their job.

In the same way we have witnessed the courage and determination of student publications nationwide to hold powerful people to account and speak truth to power.

On National Press Freedom Day, we honor all journalists who courageously persist in upholding truth and justice despite systemic repression and global impunity.

The youth, as torchbearers of journalism’s future, bear a vital commitment to championing the patriotic and democratic interests of the people.

The pivotal role of campus journalists in driving societal change has become an indispensable necessity.

27/07/2025

PISD encourages Junior & Senior High students as well as University students aged 15-24 to register and become First-Time Student Voters this upcoming Barangay and SK Elections.

We encourage educational institutions to take a proactive role in raising awareness, promoting engagement, and teaching critical thinking to first-time student voters.

25/07/2025

Mabuhay ang Campus Press!

PISD joins students nationwide in celebrating Campus Press Freedom Day.

The call to Defend Press Freedom and Editorial Independence of all Student Publications must include providing support and funding as guaranteed under the Campus Journalism Act of 1991.

Additionally all forms of intimidation and harassment of student journalists must stop and their rights be respected.

The Institute acknowledges the vital role Student Publications have to raise civic awareness, ensure transparency and accountability, and to speak truth to power as one of the Four pillars of Student Democracy.