For those of you who haven't read "Crumble Their Deception" (Henceforth to be referred to as Crumble), one of the more recent fliers distributed by ANAKBAYAN, a member of STAND UP, I will include the text that I took the time to type out below as an appendix.

Before I begin, I would like to reiterate that I am party-neutral. Whoever I vote, I vote because I think they can do the job, and not because of the color of their shirts. Now I apologize in advance if anyone thinks I'm picking on STAND-UP. I really am not. It's just that... they seem to have a disproportionate amount of loose cannons.

I'm writing this response simply because I found the contents of this flier extremely objectionable and unfair, and also because I want an end to all this childish shit.

Dear Author,

I'm alright with fliers going "we're cool, vote us" and "we love you, so please love us back" and so and and so forth. What I'm NOT alright with is "They suck, so vote for us." The latter is a negative, unfair, one-sided and asinine method of getting votes. 

In Crumble, you rail about how KAISA and ALYANSA are deceptive, false, vicious, selfish, power-hungry, etc...  Do you think you're the only student around here? Members of KAISA and ALYANSA are students too: they circulate the same campus as you do, they study in the same buildings as you do, and they get affected by the rules as you do. 

How can you think, for one second, that you can judge their characters without spending time with them in their meetings, think tank sessions and daily lives? They have their own stands and opinions on certain issues and problems, their own ideas and programs they'd like to enact—to these you have the right to disagree. 

You have the right to argue. You can even talk to your friends about how evil they are and stuff. It's natural, in the heat of the moment. But to libel them on print, with enough time to think and mull things over? That's low, my friend. Way below the belt.

I know you care about the student body. I know you care about us, about me, about the next guy or girl. But so do your two political opponents. If this were a national election, and the candidates were senators and congressmen, my statement doesn't apply. It really is possible they don't care about you. But for Chrissake, we're students! We're talking about a university election! Is this what our years of being schoolmates has come to?

Trust me: You ALL want the same thing. You all want the school to be better. You all want your fellow students to have a better education. You all want your fellow students to be the best they can be. Where you differ is method. Do you see where I'm getting at? Question the method. Not the motive.

I'm not saying you should stop arguing. In fact, I encourage it. Debate with each other about programs, pros and cons, etc... It'll go a long way in informing the student body about the issues and about your priorities. But be civil. No slander, no ad hominem, and most of all, no hate.

It may be hard for you to admit it, but you are all friends. There's just a difference in opinion.

With Love,

Levi

The following is the aforementioned flier text.

"Leadership and unity, as propounded by some political formations in campus, can never be conceived by mere grand statements and more so, claimed in the absence of praxis.

"For such calls must always be situated in conditions that manifestly surround us. Indeed, more recently, we have emerged victorious in our fight against a vicious attempt by the administration and its cohorts in the person of false student leaders, that tried to rob us of our representation in university governance and tested the power of our concerted action. It is important to note that it was only STAND-UP which has been firm in its struggle for genuine student representation by defending the Office of the STudent Regent, while other political groups have collaborated to further their own selfish interests and hunger for power in the guise of flawed calls for "democratization" and "student participation".

"It is in light of this that we challenge ALYANSA and KAISA to go beyond the confines of their deceptive and misguided advocacies through an honest assessment of their actions in the past years. True leaders, after all, are judged not by their seemingly noble yet hollow declarations in a desperate effort to gain public approval, but by their concrete efforts to unite with their people armed with the sharpest of principles and a clear course of action. As such, these formations must be exposed for the populist and vacillating groups that they truly are.

"ALYANSA contends to "define leadership " by invoking a "shared purpose" and the "timeless ideals of integrity and service". Yet, it is this same group and their allies serving in student councils who obstinately demanded that their own proposed changes to the Student Regent selection rules by subjected to the recently concluded referendum, without consideration for the equally significant position of the other student councils. It is this same group which originally supported the tuition increase in UP, only to retract their position after belatedly realizing its dire effects on the majority of incoming students. It is this same group that has been gravely silent on major local issues, like dwindling state subsidy and the consequent lab fee increases, administration repression against UP professors Sarah Raymundo and Judy Taguiwalo, and widespread demolitions of UP communities.

"Similarly, KAISA now asks us to "unite" and make a "difference". It must be remembered, however, that they have also been active in campaigning for the failure of the Student Regent referendum without realizing the danger of losing the Office of the Student Regent with such position. KAISA has long been evidently absent in most of the major student campaigns, and such failure to make a principled stance forebodes ill of the kind of change they now forward. Certainly, this is not the kind of "difference" we would like to be part of.

"Ultimately, both ALYANSA and KAISA have undermined the power of our collective action, to the extent of dismissing the same as mere illusion. We are now called upon to realize that the democratic rights we now enjoy as students, the institutions and agencies we have been privileged with, were all borne of consolidated efforts to rise against tyrannical interventions, precisely what the 12 years of history STAND-UP unwaveringly represent.

"Anakbayan unites with student organizations in giving full support to STAND-UP in the coming student council elections. Once again, we will not let their deception vitiate the validity and potency of our collective action."