MANILA – The decision of the Department of National Defense (DND) to unilaterally terminate its long-time agreement with the University of the Philippines (UP) with regards to military and police presence in its campuses has the support of President Rodrigo Duterte.
“Si Secretary (Delfin) Lorenzana po is an alter ego of the President. Of course, the President supports the decision,” spokesperson Harry Roque said in a televised Palace press briefing on Tuesday.
Roque also believed that the termination of the 1989 agreement will have an effect on the academic freedom of UP as what is being feared by its students as well as by critics of the administration.
The UP-DND accord, which was signed in 1989, states that prior to entering UP campuses, the military and police must give notice to university officials.
In a separate statement, Lorenzana said the DND-UP accord has been a “hindrance to operations against communist rebels, especially the recruitment of cadres in the state university.”
“The agreement has become obsolete. The times and circumstances have changed since the agreement was signed in 1989, three years after the martial law ended,” Lorenzana said.
“UP has become the breeding ground of intransigent individuals and groups whose extremist beliefs have inveigled students to join their ranks to fight against the government,” he added. “It has become a safe haven for enemies of the state.”
The Philippine National Police (PNP), for its part, assured the public that there will be no warrantless arrests against UP students despite the agreement’s termination.
“Wala naman pong karapatan ang pulis mag-aresto kapag walang warrant po. Siguro balik tayo sa usapin ng batas, sa rule of law, iyon pa rin ho ang magiging batayan,” PNP spokesperson Police Brigadier General Ildebrandi Usana said over ABS-CBN’s Teleradyo.
The DND’s move was publicized Monday, after UP published a copy of Lorenzana’s letter to UP President Danilo Concepcion on some of its social media accounts./PN
