On September 22, student journalist Aila Joy Esperida received a letter signed by a regional administrative authority, a Naga City Barangay, summoning her and her parents for a discussion with unidentified members of the Philippine armed forces on September 24. The Democrat found that the letter contained no official Barangay seal, and no reason was provided for the invitation. A day prior, The Democrat photojournalist John Harvee Cabal received a similar letter from their Barangay.

Prior to the summons, during the 51st-anniversary Martial Law commemoration at Plaza Rizal in Naga City on September 21, Esperida and other student journalists were harassed by soldiers, who took photos of The Democrat’s student staff without their consent and demanded they provide personal information. The student journalists objected to this and urged the soldiers to delete the photos.

Esperida requested the identity of the soldier who collected their personal information, later identified as Sergeant Creo, who questioned the students about their presence at the plaza and encouraged them to join an Infantry division.

A similar incident took place on September 13, involving the publication's former Editor-in-Chief, Berlineth Nymia Montes. Similarly, pressure was exerted on her and her family, with members of the armed forcesinsinuating that she held an affiliation with Filipino terrorist organisations, a practice commonly known as ‘Red-tagging’.

The Democrat, affiliated with the College Editors Guild of the Philippines, is currently seeking the assistance of human rights attorneys and the NUJP. The publication's editorial team has also notified university authorities and scheduled meetings to plan their future actions.