MANILA, Philippines – Who says it’s impossible to join a protest and study at the same time? 

Going viral online is the photo of a student holding a biology reviewer while attending a rally in Quezon Hall of the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman on Thursday, September 21.

The girl in the photo was identified as Dani Ting, a 3rd year psychology student from UP.

In a Facebook message, Ting said she initially thought of taking down the photo for security reasons, but changed her mind after she saw the photo’s impact.

“Nakita ko kasi ‘yung feedback ng other people and how it shed some light on them na hindi lang talaga ‘puro rally’ ang mga taga-UP,” she said. (I saw the feedback of other people and how it shed some light on them that UP students aren’t all about rallies.)

“We uphold honor and excellence in both our academics and our love for our nation,” Ting added.

She also said that she had a scheduled exam the day after the protest, “so I decided to review whenever I can.”

As of posting, the photo captioned “Iskolar ng bayan, ngayon ay lumalaban (at nagrereview ng Bio 12)” has garnered at least 8,000 retweets and 54,507 likes on Twitter. 

ISKOLAR NG BAYAN
NGAYON AY LUMALABAN
(AT NAGREREVIEW NG BIO 12) pic.twitter.com/GxzsgLDTFO

— Patrick Wincy Reyes (@incywincyyy) September 21, 2017

It was also shared on different Facebook pages.

According to Patrick Reyes, currently a graduate student in UP, he posted the photo to debunk the myth that those who join rallies fail to look after their studies.

“I posted it to debunk the stereotype of activists being negligent of their studies,” Reyes told Rappler in a Facebook message when asked what made him upload the photo.

Reyes tweeted the photo on September 21, in line with the observance of the 45th anniversary of Martial Law. President Rodrigo Duterte dubbed the day as a “national day of protest.”

Marking the 45th anniversary of Martial Law, thousands of youth groups, national minorities, religious groups, and activists took to the streets across the country. Social media also lit up on Thursday as netizens harnessed different social media platforms to remember this particular dark chapter of the country’s history. 

Many of the protesters are millennials like Dani Ting who were not born yet when Martial Law was declared 45 years ago. According to them, they do not have to experience the atroticities and human rights violations committed back then in order to own the fight against tyranny. – Rappler.com