By Isabella Magno

During the portion of Commencement Exercises for the Humanities and Social Sciences (HumSS) Strand, several unnamed students of the Ateneo de Manila Senior High School (ASHS) staged a protest, Saturday, June 4.

The movement was created to express students’ concerns and views regarding the dispassion of some institutions in protecting the rights of the  LGBTQ+  community, as well as the issue with the turnout of the 2022 National Elections.

The first attempt was when students were called one-by-one on stage, where they were supposed to bring and present placards stating their standpoints, but they chose to postpone it to the later part of the program. 

With this, it was during the singing of the Song for Mary before the recession when they decided to put up their placards with words exclaiming, “Protect trans kids,”  “Reject Marcos-Duterte,” and “Marcos Magnanakaw.”

It can be remembered that some ASHS organizations attempted to write an appeal letter to the administration roughly a week before the graduation ceremony to allow LGBTQ+ students to wear clothes they felt most comfortable in, but this was not carried out because there were no instructions from moderators to do so.

Moreover, the ASHS community also has a reputation for being one of the most active groups in taking part in raising social awareness, particularly about human rights and politics.

Photos by Earl Valenzuela and Renee Tolentino