‘What’s so special with UP?’ Bato asks on heels of DND-UP accord termination

Senator Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa on Wednesday questioned what makes the University of the Philippines different from other universities to have an agreement with the Department of National Defense which prohibits the entry of state forces in its campuses.

“Sa akin naman, nakita ko doon sa agreement na ‘yun, what is so special with UP? Bakit yung ibang academic campuses like MSU Marawi…walang ganoong agreement? What is so special with UP, bakit sa UP lang bawal pumasok yung sundalo at pulis? Anong ibig sabihin niyan?” Dela Rosa, a former Philippine National Police chief, said in a statement.

“Hindi naman lahat ng estudyante ng UP ay maka-kaliwa. Hindi naman lahat ng estudyante ng UP ay aktibista," he added.

The 1989 agreement which the DND abrogated was signed a few days after Donato Continente, staffer of the campus publication Philippine Collegian, was arrested by security forces at the Vinzons Hall in UP Diliman.

Continente was arrested over the killing of American soldier Colonel James Rowe. 

The pact succeeded the 1982 Soto-Enrile Accord, which was inked by student leader Sonia Soto and former defense minister Juan Ponce Enrile.

Dela Rosa asserted that the police and military should be allowed to "recruit" among UP students too to join their cause as he alleged that the communists are being allowed to do so.

"Kung ang CPP-NPA ay libreng libre na mag-recruit ng mga estudyante ng UP para sumali doon sa NPA sa bundok, sana ang Armed Forces at ang pulis puwede rin mag-recruit ng mga taga doon sa UP na sumali sa kasundaluhan o sa kapulisan. Para equal opportunity, di ba?" he said.

"Baka puwede rin naman kami mapag-bigyan na makapag-recruit din para sa gobyerno natin, dahil nga UP is a government institution. Bakit pagbawalan mo 'yung government na pumasok diyan?" he added.

Dela Rosa believes the termination of the 1989 agreement between the DND and UP is long overdue.

On the other hand, UP alumna Senator Pia Cayetano said the two parties should sit down and discuss it first.

"As a premier university that has produced leaders in both government and the private sector and outstanding professionals and innovators in various fields who have all contributed to nation-building, UP deserves to be duly informed and engaged in meaningful dialogue," Cayetano said in a separate statement.

"I was a student in UP for eight years. I was a law student when the UP-DND accord was signed in 1989 between then UP President Jose Abueva and then Defense Secretary Fidel V. Ramos. The diversity of opinions, political and otherwise, enriched my perspective and gave me the background and the foundation I rely upon on my work as a legislator," she said.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said the pact has been terminated because UP has become a safe haven for enemies of the state and a breeding ground for communist groups but UP Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Elena Pernia said the university does not condone New People’s Army's supposed recruitments inside the campus.

The DND will also terminate similar agreements with other schools and universities, according to Lorenzana.

Several other senators opposed the move of the DND and urged it to reconsider, saying academic freedom must be upheld. Some of them also filed a bill institutionalizing in the UP Charter the essence of 1989 agreement. — RSJ, GMA News