Letter

Announcement- to people with same passion in 2019 [4 January 2019]: https://reverseoblationrun.wordpress.com/2019/01/04/community-as-team-for-reverse-oblation-run-4-january-2019/

Announcement- to bar girl & bar owner of Philippines [8-10-2018]: https://reverseoblationrun.wordpress.com/2018/10/09/announcement-philippine-bar-girl-owner-you-can-protest-the-discrimination-of-philippines-about-only-allowing-male-nudity-to-be-objectified-publicly-oblation-run-or-at-public-gay-bar-yet-on/

Letter To Congressman: Publish Rule How Oblation Run Demonstration Type Can Be Conducted

Dear Congressman,

Every year in December, a an “Oblation Run” is held at several campuses of the University of the Philippines (UP). The Oblation Run is done by a fraternity Alpha Phi Omega (APO) to support some worthy cause. The Oblation Run consists of naked men, wearing masks but nothing else, running through public areas of the university. This prevents the public property of UP from being used as it was intended by the public. Of course, the UP administration has the authority to use the property for special purposes. They obviously believe that an Oblation Run is a special purpose worthy of being allowed exclusive use of public property for a period of time. That is their decision, and the purpose of this letter is not to argue that an Oblation Run should never be held. I believe, however, that if UP chooses to allow an Oblation Run, they have an obligation to treat all UP students, perhaps even all Philippine citizens, equally.

At present, only members of an exclusive private fraternity, APO, are allowed to participate in the Oblation Run. In 2005, two people who were not approved by APO ran in their own demonstration behind the APO Oblation Run. They were separated from the APO runners by a few minutes or less. They did not interfere with the APO Oblation Run, or cause any problem. Nevertheless, APO complained that they distracted attention from the APO runners. UP agreed to investigate and try to discover the identity. UP has never tried to discover the identities of the masked runners approved by APO, even though some of them may be minors. Why did they investigate the non-APO runners? Obviously, it was to have them expelled, arrested, or punished in some way.

UP has made no rules that specify under what conditions a nude demonstration is allowed. They have no procedure for approving such a demonstration in advance. The only rule appears to be that if you are approved by a wealthy elite fraternity, APO, you can do whatever you want. If you are the son or daughter of a Phillipine citizen and taxpayer who pays for the university, but not a member of the APO aristocracy, you are treated differently. If you choose to hold a demonstration on the same day as the APO Oblation Run, you can be expelled and arrested for interfering with APO. If you try to hold a demonstration on some other day, you will be expelled and arrested for interfering with the legitimate use of public property and public nudity.

I am requesting that you ask the UP administration to publish rules that will state how Oblation Run type demonstrations can be conducted. Thank you for your attention to this matter.