The University Journalism program coordinator denied connections with the alleged recruitment of students to the communist rebellion on Monday, Dec. 28.
The conservative-leaning Facebook page The Right Thomasian, whose administrators are still unknown, claimed in a post that a member of the journalism faculty introduced an alumnus to an outside recruiter, which almost led the student to join the rebellion.
“Whoever is running this page is spreading a malicious and unfounded accusation via a seemingly innocuous blind item,” Salvosa said in a tweet.
UST Journalism Head Felipe Salvosa II took to Twitter his response to the allegations.
Salvosa cited a specific comment in his Twitter thread in which the admin of The Right Thomasian dropped a hint and he felt alluded to.
He denied connections with alternative media organization, Bulatlat, and clarified that he was a former editor-in-chief of The Varsitarian, the University’s official student publication, and not of Bulatlat.com.
“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.
Salvosa also urged The Right Thomasian to show evidence of his alleged involvement in the recruitment of students in the armed rebellion, and not to “hide behind anonymity and blind items.”
An hour after the department chair tweeted his response to the page’s post, The Right Thomasian wrote that they “will not confirm nor deny” the allegations in their post.
“We will not confirm nor deny our blind items. Sobrang vague ng clues namin. It could be anyone you imagine…[R]eactionary game iz (sic) strong,” they said.
Series of red-tagging
The Right Thomasian tagged itself as a community page managed by conservative Thomasians, whose aim is to “counter toxic leftism and socialism” within the University.
It has since then been a platform for red-tagging certain Thomasians, including the incumbent Central Student Council president Robert Dominic Gonzales.
On Nov. 19, the page accused Gonzales of “openly inciting students of the University to commit sedition,” after sharing a link to a signature campaign calling to oust President Rodrigo Duterte for his negligence.
The Right Thomasian also put out a blind item on Dec. 28, which pointed out that a faculty member of the UST Department of Political Science was allegedly a “retired radical leftist.”
Despite the continuous red-tagging of students, and now professors, the University has not released any statements on the Facebook page yet.
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