ILOILO City – “Ill-conceived and unilateral.” This was how officials of the University of the Philippines Visayas (UPV) described the sudden termination of the long-time Department of National Defense (DND)-UP agreement that regulated police and military operations in the university.
The DND terminated the agreement on Jan. 15 amid concerns the state university was supposedly becoming “a safe haven for enemies of the state.”
The agreement, forged in 1989, required state forces to notify school officials before conducting operations in UP campuses as a courtesy.
The accord was a reliable mechanism for resolving differences of opinion between UP and law enforcement agencies, said UPV Chancellor Clement Camposano.
“Kung tatangalin po ang mekanismo na ‘yan, mayroon pong panganib sa seguridad ng ating komunidad,” said Camposano in an interview over DZUP 1602.
Under the UP-DND accord, the military and police were barred from entering any UP campus without authorization from the school administration.
According to Camposano, historical events that shaped the relationship of UP and the country’s security forces – many of these leaving wounds that have yet to heal – explained the university’s strong apprehension.
“Far reaching po ito at mayroong history ng abuses, ng pagmamalabis ang mga security forces. Ang nakataya po dito ay hindi lang iyong seguridad ng mga taga-UP kundi seguridad at karapatan ng lipunan, lalo na iyong nasa vulnerable sectors,” Camposano said.
UPV is one of the autonomous units of the UP system and has campuses in Tacloban City, Iloilo City and Miag-ao town in Iloilo province.
Camposano called on members of the UPV “to be steadfast and resolute in the defense of their democratic rights, and in ensuring that the university’s campuses remain free, safe and welcoming towards a wide range of ideas and advocacies.”
He also “strongly urged” Defense secretary Delfin Lorenzana “to return to the path of reason and reconsider this unilateral and ill-conceived abrogation.”
FURTHER ATTACKS
Meanwhile, the UPV University Student Council, college councils, and student organizations issued a joint statement denouncing the termination of the agreement. They pointed out that UPV students, teachers and employees have already been subjected to red-tagging and harassment even with the accord in place.
The termination of the landmark agreement “legitimizes further attacks and harassment against members of the UP community, as well as empowering state forces to stifle our basic constitutional right to dissent,” the statement added.
In 2019, several UPV students and teachers were harassed online by supporters of President Rodrigo Duterte after a video of a 15-minute cheering performance of the Skimmers academic group went viral due to its satirical take on university and national issues.
The UPV administration, student organizations, and the academic employees union asserted the right to freedom of expression of the students and decried the harassment.
OBSOLETE
Lorenzana justified the decision to abruptly end the DND-UP agreement.
He claimed the three-decade old agreement accorded to UP out of courtesy is now obsolete and there is a need to protect the majority of Filipinos against a university that has become a “breeding ground” of extremists.
“The country’s premier state university has become a safe haven for the enemies of the state. The Department of National Defense will neither renege nor shirk from its duty to protect the rights of the majority. It will not tolerate those who violate the laws of the land in the guise of lawful public dissent, free assembly, and free speech,” he said in a statement.
Lorenzana also said UP cannot be given special treatment and be regarded like the demilitarized zone that divides the Korean Peninsula, where the military cannot enter without coordination.
“What makes UP so special? We are not your enemies. We are here to protect our people, especially our youth,” he said in a tweet.
REVIEW THE TERMINATION
Senators, congressional representatives and various groups blasted the government’s move to scrap the deal that they said ensured academic freedom at UP campuses for over three decades.
Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon, a UP alumnus, urged the Defense chief to review the termination of the agreement, which he believes would only heighten the tension.
“I know Secretary Delfin Lorenzana to be a very reasonable person. I would ask him to review the termination of the agreement because it does not solve any problem. It just heightens the tension. It does not solve any problem,” the Ilonggo lawmaker said.
According to Drilon, he was personally saddened by Lorenzana’s pronouncement that UP has become a “safe haven for the enemies of the state.”
“I am saddened by this development. As a UP graduate, I know how the whole UP community values the freedom inside the campus,” Drilon said.
“We are not saying that UP should be beyond the law. If there are issues of violations of the law, a search warrant is a remedy available to the authorities not only in other places but also in UP,” the senator added.
Labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) condemned the DND move, calling it as “an outright bastardization of academic freedom, and of our freedoms of speech and thought.”
The National Union of Peoples Lawyers (NUPL) also denounced the termination of the agreement.
The College Editors Guild of the Philippines, meanwhile, said the DND move is a “death signature to the long-standing resistance of the UP community.” (With ABS-CBN News/PN)
