Lagman: Abrogation of UP-DND pact red-tags entire UP community

The Department of National Defense's (DND) unilateral termination of its three decade-old pact with the University of the Philippines (UP) is tantamount to "red-tagging" the entire UP community, Albay Representative Edcel Lagman said Tuesday.

"The repressive policies of the Duterte administration have gone berserk as it is now open season for the military invasion of UP campuses," said Lagman, himself an alumnus of the university.

"The unilateral and baseless abrogation of the 1989 UP-DND accord red-tags the entire UP constituencies nationwide consisting of UP Diliman, UP Manila, UP Los Baños, UP Visayas, and the regional units in Baguio, San Fernando, Tacloban, Ming-ao (Iloilo), and Cebu," he added.

Signed in 1989, the UP-DND Accord essentially prohibits the entry into the university of military and police forces if they have no prior coordination with UP officials.

But in his letter informing UP of their decision to end the accord, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana cited information that communist rebels are supposedly recruiting students inside the campus.

He argued that the accord hinders the DND in providing “effective security, safety and welfare” of the students, faculty, and employees of UP.

He also said that the agreement was already obsolete as times and circumstances have changed since it was signed in 1989.

Despite this, Lagman maintained that the termination of the agreement is "fraught with emerging violations of academic freedom, civil liberties, and fundamental rights protected and enshrined in the Constitution."

He also raised concern on the timing of the abrogation of the pact, saying that it came in the heels of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 which he and other individuals have assailed before the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, Deputy Speaker Rufus Rodriguez, another UP alumnus, joined other lawmakers in calling on the DND to reconsider its termination of the UP-DND Accord.

In a separate statement, Rodriguez said the unilateral decision of the DND sends a chilling effect on the exercise of academic freedom, freedom of speech, and freedom of assembly which have thrived in UP.

“UP has produced trail-blazers in all fields and sectors; thus it is in the State’s interest to protect the rights of the institution, its faculty, and students whose exchange of ideas have continuously strengthened our democracy as shown in our history,” he said.

“The scrapping of the agreement could drive political dissenters, who are a minority in the UP community, into extremism, a prospect the DND wants to prevent in its abrogation decision and would be counterintuitive to the goals of the State,” he added.

Rodriguez urged the DND to discuss its concerns with UP officials.

“I am sure UP president Danny Concepcion and other university officials will listen. The two sides can perhaps agree on refinements or changes in their agreement that protect the interests of both the state and UP and its constituents,” he said.

Concepcion himself also urged them to reconsider and revoke its termination of the accord, saying that it is "totally unnecessary and unwarranted," and may only taint the relations between the two institutions.

He also maintained that they do not condone sedition, armed insurrection, or the use of violence for political ends. — BM, GMA News