Youth, progressive groups decry abrogation of UP-DND pact

The League of Filipino Students (LFS) on Monday condemned the Philippine Defense Department's unilateral termination of an agreement that banned the entry of security forces into University of the Philippines campuses and called for a protest against the action at the UP Diliman campus on Tuesday morning.

The LFS characterized the abrogation as an attack on UP's status as a haven for free-thought and academic freedom for students and was a demonstration of the government's distorted sense of priorities given the more pressing concern of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The progressive student organization argued further that the action taken by the national security establishment stemmed from the Anti-Terrorism Law, which was created to silence government critics and student-activists and had nothing to do with combating the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army.

The alleged recruitment of student leaders by the CPP-NPA was merely the excuse used to do away with the academic freedom of students whom the government had long been “red-tagging.”

Also, given that oral arguments against the Anti-Terror Law were about to be presented at the Supreme Court, the government was using every opportunity still available to it to suppress citizen's democratic freedoms

Meanwhile, the LFS announce that a protest against campus militarization would be held at 10 a.m. at the UP-Diliman's Quezon Hall.

For its part, the College Editors Guild of Philippines called the termination of the UP-DND accord a “desperate [measure] of the current administration in silencing critical voices of dissent.”

“The following terms of the UP-DND accord are but an excuse of the Duterte regime to layout its counter-insurgency measures within the university and herald its anti-people policies promulgated within the current Ant-Terrorism Act of 2020. Hence, the termination of the aforementioned accord will only perpetuate the dire threats of red-baiting, campus militarization, and open more windows for abuse to prosper,” the CEGP said in its statement.

The guild further argued that the termination not only jeopardized academic freedom but also “the very existence of a democratic sphere.”

Meanwhile, youth group Anakbayan UP Diliman said that the DNDs abrogation of the accord would have the effect of uniting the UP community on the grounds of academic freedom and the protection of democratic spaces.

Akbayan Chair Emeritus Etta Rosales, for her part, scoffed at Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana's justification for the accord termination.

“The University of the Philippines and its students need no saving,” said Rosales in her statement. “Save and protect the West Philippine Sea instead. That is where the real and present threat is.

“If you can't protect our seas, don't lash out at the students and their university.”

In a letter dated January 15, 2021, Lorenzana informed UP President Danilo Concepcion of the DND's decision to end its agreement with UP, citing information that communists were recruiting students inside campuses. — DVM, GMA News