ABROGATED | Security forces ended agreement with state university not to conduct operations in its campuses

January 18, 2021 , 11:07 PM

(January 18, 2021) – President Rodrigo Duterte’s security forces terminated a three-decade-old agreement with the country’s premier state university restricting the conduct of law enforcement operations in its campuses nationwide, disrespecting the right of the education institution to hold protests.

In a letter sent last week to lawyer Danilo Concepcion, president of the University of the Philippines, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said he is terminating the agreement limiting military and police from entering the campuses without prior notice to the university administration.

Lorenzana said he found the agreement a “hindrance in providing effective security, safety and welfare of the students, faculty and employees of UP,” as he claimed the Maoist-led rebels have been using the university’s campus grounds as recruiting area for armed guerrillas fighting the government.

“In the pursuit of true national peace and development, it is time to terminate or abrogate the existing agreement with the end view of protecting and securing the institution and the youth against the enemies of the Filipino people without sacrificing the freedoms that we have preserved for about 30 years.”

Binanggit ng kalihim ang nangyayari umanong recruitment sa loob ng unibersidad para sa CPP-NPA. Nilinaw naman niyang ‘di nila intensyong maglagay ng militar o pulis doon, o pigilan ang activist groups, academic freedom, at freedom of expression. pic.twitter.com/qUkMCgfYbr

— News5 (@News5PH) January 18, 2021

The agreement was signed between Defense Secretary Fidel Ramos and the UP president during the time of Cory Aquino three years after the dictator Ferdinand Marcos was removed in a popular uprising backed by the military, restoring democratic institutions in the Philippines.

Sarah Elago of the Kabataan Party-list criticized the defense department’s decision to end the agreement.

She said it “shows a blatant disregard for the students’ historic victory against campus militarization and fascist dictatorship.”

“This brazen step signals intensified attacks on academic freedom and increasing violations of human rights of students, teachers and education stakeholders amid the Duterte regime’s tyranny,” Elago said in a statement.

“Defend academic freedom! Uphold the autonomy of our institutions of learning!”
Nakiisa si Rep. Sarah Elago sa pagkondena sa termination ng DND sa UP-DND Accord at panawagang #DefendUP at #NoToCampusMilitarization. pic.twitter.com/6TIi3mX15O

— News5 (@News5PH) January 18, 2021

The university’s student regent also condemned the defense department’s action as it threw away “countless sacrifices of UP students to fight for our democratic rights, to defend our academic freedom in the university.”

“We highly condemn this move as an attempt to encroach on our academic freedoms and remove safe spaces from our campuses,” the OSR said in a Facebook post.

ALERT: DND Secretary Delfin Lorenzana sent a letter to UP President Danilo Conception to notify its unilateral…

Posted by UP Office of the Student Regent on Monday, January 18, 2021

UP Diliman’s official student publication, Philippine Collegian, also called on the students and faculty to unite and defend the university amid what they deemed a threat to academic freedom.

“Malaya at mapagpalayang kaisipan ang tanging nililinang ng UP at wala nang iba. Ang pagtaguyod nito ng karununang lapat sa mga isyung panlipunan ang siyang nagluluwal ng kabataang naghahangad ng Kalayaan at hustisya para sa lahat,” the Collegian, which first reported the abrogation of the agreement, said on Facebook.

Muling inaatake ang Unibersidad ng Pilipinas. Mula sa nais ng mga mambabatas magkaroon ng pulis at militar sa kampus,…

Posted by Philippine Collegian on Monday, January 18, 2021

Opposition Senator Francis Pangilinan, who served as the first UP student regent after the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos, urged the defense chief “not to mess with UP.”

“Tinutulan natin ang panghihimasok ng diktador noon. UP has always been and will always be a citadel of freedom and democracy,” Pangilinan said on Twitter.

Tinutulan natin ang panghihimasok ng diktador noon. UP has always been and will always be a citadel of freedom and democracy.

No to the unilateral and arbitrary termination of the Enrile-Soto Accord.

Pakiusap lang. Please don’t mess with UP.#DefendUP #UPFight!

— Kiko Pangilinan (@kikopangilinan) January 18, 2021

Lorenzana said no soldiers and police officers will be stationed inside the campuses, respecting activist groups’ right to express and academic freedom.

He said the security forces have “nothing to gain from suppressing these rights and freedom but will only alienate it from the people.”

Last year, activists and human rights groups joined students in stating a huge protest inside the university campus in Diliman despite the coronavirus pandemic.

Students fear the abrogation of the agreement will be a signal for security forces to make arrests and break up peaceful anti-government demonstrations in the university.

(Bea Puente/MM)

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