THE GREATEST war of this generation is the COVID pandemic.
This calamity has taken a staggering number of lives, still growing by the day. It disrupted all economies worldwide. It altered the daily routine of people of all ages.
The economic fallout is now being felt by the Filipino people. The prices of basic goods are steadily on the rise. Food prices are galloping beyond the reach of the minimum wage earner.
Government’s vaccine procurement is in a royal mess. The asymptomatic are running around propping up services and businesses to help resurrect the economy, raising the specter of a widespread community transmission that can bring all previous lockdowns to naught.
In this milieu, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana lobbed a molotov cocktail last week – the unilateral abrogation of the UP-DND Accord.
In that rush of judgment the military made many mistakes. It named several UP students who “died” in the course of the insurgency war. They are not only alive but still very much in the active practice of their profession – lawyers, journalists, teachers.
The reason given is that the University of the Philippines has become a breeding ground for the New People’s Army.
Lorenzana tugged at the heartstrings of parents, proclaiming that the abrogation of the 30-year accord is meant to protect their children from harm, i.e., armed encounters with the military.
Classes are now being held online. If at all, the move highlights a grievous disconnect between campus presence and recruitment – the ridiculous implication being that rebels have infiltrated the UP campuses in big numbers, for example, teachers themselves, who may actually be teaching their students the fine art of armed rebellion against government.
Rebellion continues to be penalized as an offense under the Revised Penal Code. Is the military saying that it intends to catch people in the act of recruiting kadres inside UP campuses? Are military spies going to sit in online classes – if so that can be done in the comforts of their offices granting they can surmount constitutional objections like privacy of communications.
Because, surely, they must know that there are no gun battles between the NPA and the AFP inside those campuses in the aftermath of which they can arrest those who surrender?
The accord itself states clearly that its signing is not a prohibition against the enforcement of the laws of the land. A campus official who coddles criminal activity would still be liable for obstruction of justice or for giving aid or comfort to the enemy.
It is not difficult to divine the military’s true intention in mutilating the accord. Section 4 of the accord states that the police or military “shall not interfere with peaceful protest actions by UP constituents within UP premises. UP officials shall be responsible for the behavior of their students, faculty and employees in such activities.”
In the entirety of this pandemic the police have been brutal against those who openly demonstrate against government inefficiency in managing the pandemic. They have arrested, even injured, protesters who dared challenge government neglect or inaction.
It is UP that has provided succor to activists who desire to protest against the passage of the anti-terror law, the capture of the ABS CBN radio frequencies, and the ceaseless red-tagging activities that have put lives in danger.
This is in the context of a rapidly shrinking democratic space where dissent is not welcomed as an essential ingredient to consensus building.
As they say, unanimity is not democracy but rather the rule of one. Opposition and dissent are necessary to counteract dictatorial tendencies. Fidel V. Ramos recognized that when he signed the UP accord with Jose Abueva./PN
