UP academic employees union leaders getting death threats —union official

Leaders of the University of the Philippines' academic employees union have been getting death threats since last year, a union official said Tuesday.

Professor Melania Flores of the All UP Workers Alliance, representing some 14,000 university employees, said their ranks have experienced "red-tagging" even before the unilateral termination of the UP-Department of National Defense accord.

"Sa kasalukuyan po, halos lahat ng presidente ng aming chapter sa All UP Academic Employees Union ay mayroong death threat at nakakaranas ng sunod-sunod na harassment," she said at a press conference.

The latest to receive a threat to their life are the union president and other leaders of the organization in UP Cebu, Flores said.

"Ang terminasyon nitong DND accord na ito ay nag-signal lamang kung ano yung nagaganap simula ng nakaraang taon. Tuloy-tuloy na red-tagging at atake sa hanay ng aming unyon, sa hanay ng All UP Workers Alliance," she said.

The UP community is protesting the unilateral abrogation of the three-decade old agreement between the university and the DND, which required state forces to notify UP officials before conducting operations inside campus.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana cancelled the pact without consulting UP. Describing the accord as "obsolete," he claimed that the university has become a hotbed for communist recruitment.

UP leaders said the cancellation of the agreement threatens the freedom that has made the university a safe space for activism for decades. They assert that academic freedom is a right guaranteed by the Constitution.

Critics have repeatedly called out the military and anti-communist insurgency task force officials for accusing individuals, organizations and institutions of having communist links.

"Red-tagging," they say, places lives in danger. The United Nations' human rights office said the practice is a "persistent and powerful threat to civil society and freedom of expression." —KBK, GMA News