Sunday, October 30, 2016

The Students for Liberty - Philippines (SFL PH)

Last October 20, 2016, the Students for Liberty - Philippines (SFL PH) launched their facebook and twitter pages. Congrats guys.

I am happy that the liberty movement among the Philippine youth is taking shape formally. And when we say liberty, it is individual liberty, not national or class or clan liberty.

From Joseph Bautista, President of SFL PH, October 20:

We're pro-peace, pro-individual, pro-market, and pro-liberty.. We're part of the bigger Students For Liberty network around the world. We have students from the USA, Indonesia, Canada, Europe, New Zealand, Australia, Africa, and many others.

Here in the Philippines, we also have a growing local network, initially consisting of students from Ateneo de Manila University, the University of the Philippines, and San Beda College.

Interested in joining? Feel free to message me if you belong in any one of the universities, and I'll happily redirect you to the respective Campus Coordinator to get you started right away. If your university is not yet on our network, please do not hesitate to contact me. We'll help you start one there.

Posted by some SFL PH members:

From Jonathan Michael Vegamora, Public Relations Officer of UP Libertad:

I'm a libertarian because I believe individuals have the right to live their own lives as they see fit as long as it does not encroach on the freedoms of others to do so. This political philosophy has guided me for a long time and I want to keep it that way, especially in a time when many people in the Philippines and all over world believe more in the capacity of government to act for the greater good than their own selves.

In the face of what's happening at home and overseas - state-sponsored violence (and if you ask me for examples, I'll give you a dump truck load of 'em from US interventionism to Saudi airstrikes on Yemenis to AFP forces shooting up Lumad communities) - we need those basic classical liberal rights that have made our lives peaceful and prosperous more than ever.

From Emil Apostol, another member of UP Libertad and supporter of SFL-PH:

Because I believe freedom is the virtue by which all other virtues can be exemplified, I fight for it. Smaller government, fewer taxes, and the freedom to live my life the way I see fit without anyone forcing me to do otherwise; sounds great, if I do say so myself. :) 

Last May, UP Libertad held its first, inaugural and open house forum, I was one of two speakers, I talked about Friedrich Hayek. See the 22-slides presentation here.

UP Libertad will partner with Pan Xenia fraternity in organizing a forum on Foreign Trade Issues. Initially scheduled this coming November 09, it will be rescheduled for early next year. I will be one of several speakers and I will talk about the challenge of unilateral trade liberalization in the ASEAN, both tariff and non-tariff in goods, also in services.

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