By Ivan Obias • February 8, 2025
The SPARK, the official student-community publication of Camarines Sur Polytechnic Colleges (CSPC), is under administrative pressure due to posting a gubernatorial mock election survey yesterday, 7 February 2025.
The publication conducted the said mock survey from 1 to 7 December 2024, through Google Forms only accessible to CSPC students.
In an interview with The SPARK’s editors Saturday, 8 February, the college administration called and instructed them to take down the post for the released mock survey.
Additionally, they suggested that the publication cease posting about the issue. They also argued that they understand the publication and its rights, but the Congress, of which gubernatorial candidate and incumbent Camarines Sur Second District Representative Luis Raymund Villafuerte is a member, is responsible for the funding of the institution.
The now-deleted post showed gubernatorial candidate Bong Rodriguez leading against Villafuerte. This prompted Villafuerte to post online, calling the survey “fake” and allegedly orchestrated by a “fake news purveyor.”
A later post by Villafuerte accused Joe Osabal of Asintado News, a local radio program, and Rodriguez as people behind the survey. In the same post, Villafuerte also accused Fernan Matthew Enimendez, the publication’s Associate Editor, and the publication as a whole of being biased against him and his family.
The college administration released a statement distancing themselves from the survey, as its results according to them “are neither comprehensive nor reflective of the sentiments of the entire student body.”
This is not the first instance in which CSPC officials have engaged The SPARK regarding its editorial decisions. In September 2023, the administration reportedly advised the publication to remove critical posts about the Marcos family ahead of the Bagong Pilipinas Serbisyo Fair, which was hosted on the campus and attended by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
The SPARK's Editors' Policies state that the student publication is an autonomous entity. The school administration has no right to meddle in the publication's affairs but may provide advice. However, it does not have full authority over the student publication.
person ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ivan Obias
News Editor
Ivan Obias is currently the Interim News Editor of ThePILLARS Publication.
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