EVERYONE was surprised. Just this Monday, Jan. 18, news broke out that the Department of National Defense (DND) terminated its three-decade-old agreement with the University of the Philippines (UP) that barred the military and police in campuses without prior notice to the UP administration.
This was a bit shocking to me, too. As a UP alumna, I donāt remember seeing military and police inside the campus for whatever reason. I may not have fully understood this before but I am well aware that UP and DND had this agreement to safeguard the right of the institution to academic freedom.
But what was really this UP-DND agreement?
This was officially called the 1989 UP-DND Accord. It was also known as the Soto-Enrile Accord.
The agreement was signed on June 30, 1989 between former UP President Jose Abueva and then Defense chief Fidel Ramos.
It was also called the Soto-Enrile Accord because there was an earlier agreement in 1982 signed between then student leader Sonia Soto and then Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile.
What were the provisions in this agreement?
As a general rule, military and police were prohibited from entering UP campuses except in cases of hot pursuit and similar occasions of emergency. There were also additional exceptions to this.
The military or police were allowed to enter the campus if the school administration requested for assistance. They were not to interfere with peaceful protest actions by UP constituents inside the campus. If the military or police intended to conduct any operation inside the campus, a prior notice to the school administration must complied first.
When it came to search and arrest warrants, a prior notice must be given to the UP President, Chancellor of the constituent university, or Dean of the concerned regional unit. Only after securing the said notice may the military or police serve warrants to any UP student, faculty, employee, or invited participants in any official UP activity.
Additionally, serving warrants required the presence of at least two UP faculty members designated by the appropriate UP official.
Anyone from UP were well-protected because any arrest or detention of a UP student, faculty or personnel was reported immediately by the military or police unit effecting the arrest or detention. The former shall not be subject to custodial investigation without prior notice to the school administration.
Moreover, the agreement created a joint monitoring group to meet at least twice a year to determine compliance with the agreement. This group was composed of the UP Faculty Regent, UP Student Regent, UP Vice President for Public Affairs, university administration, and the military and police.
Is it practical to scrap this agreement?
This agreement is already three decades old, with five former Presidents protecting the UP community. Only in this administration that the agreement was unilaterally terminated for the reason that there is an ongoing clandestine communist recruitment inside UP campuses and the agreement is being used to stop the government from conducting operations within the campuses.
It should be recalled that last year, UP led a protest against the government. These were the grand āmaƱanitaā protest, the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 protest, and the āSONAgkaisaā protest.
These protests were allegedly considered as recruitment activities of the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New Peopleās Army.
Considering all of these, we can say that the UP system is a zone of peace and academic freedom. Thus, it has to ensure the safety and security of its people especially that many attacks are continuously done by the government. We donāt want to hear attacks in the campuses of UP.
Should the abrogation of the agreement be implemented, the red-tagging operations will intensify. Most likely, there would be abuse of power. The exercise of academic freedom and the right to dissent would be curtailed.
Defend UP./PN
