Report by Vicensa Nonato

NCPAG-Umalohokan is the student publication of the National College of Public Administration and Governance (NCPAG). 

Although its college recognizes Umalohokan as a student organization rather than a publication, it has served and continues to serve as an avenue for coverage of college- and university-wide events and issues and national topics.

By organizing archives and initiating dialogues with the NCPAG administration, Umalohokan aims to officially launch efforts to secure recognition as a publication this year, following Tinig ng Plaridel’s successful recognition campaign via a referendum, according to officer-in-charge Vito Bongco. 

Besides the lack of formal recognition, the publication also remains without funds since the removal of the student publication fee in the college due to the implementation of the Free Tuition Law in 2017. It also lacks sufficient space in its designated tambayan in the NCPAG Student Lounge.

Since the Union’s report last year, Umaholokan has become more active in covering mobilizations and student activism, according to Bongco. This came with more issues in security-related threats, including hostility experienced by members during on-ground coverages and troll engagements in the publication’s social media posts.

In response to these threats, Bongco said mechanisms like restricting comments and removing bylines in politically charged stories are being put in place.

This system is part of their efforts to revert to traditional student journalism instead of its past focus on public administration scholarly inquiry, Bongco added.

“This does not mean that we are fully setting aside the work that went into reorganizing and reactivating the publication, but it is high time that we now bring our work closer to the student journalism community in the UP System and be more daring with how we talk about Public Administration and the stories of lingkod-bayans,” Bongco said.