Fresh House bills filed to institutionalize UP-DND pact in UP Charter, other schools

Two more measures have been filed at the House of Representatives to institutionalize the provisions of the 1989 pact between the University of the Philippines (UP) and the Department of National Defense (DND) to the university's Charter as well as for all other academic institutions.

The House Makabayan bloc, led by Kabataan party-list Representative Sarah Elago, filed the two bills on Wednesday, around two weeks after the DND unilaterally terminated the three-decade-old UP-DND Accord.

LOOK: Makabayan Bloc files two House bills institutionalizing the UP-DND Accord in the UP Charter, and in all academic institutions, private and public @gmanews pic.twitter.com/UKzmn8UQW5

— Erwin Colcol (@erwincolcol) January 27, 2021

The pact essentially prohibits police and military forces to enter UP campus without prior coordination with university officials.

Kabataan party-list said the filing of the two bills is in response to "unilateral termination by the Department of National Defense of the UP-DND Accord, which is an affront to both academic freedom and democratic spaces."

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.

But the party-list argued that the abrogation of the UP-DND Accord will only "enable state armed forces to enter the premises of the country’s premier university whenever they desire to, potentially sowing fear and establishing a chilling effect on its students and faculty, especially those who voice out their dissent."

It also pointed out that the similar 1990 accord between the Polytechnic University of the Philippines and the DND, "has also been threatened to be abrogated."

"Instead of being terminated, the protection of these Accords should be extended to all academic institutions in the country," the party-list said.

"Schools, colleges and universities all around the Philippines should be safe spaces and places where critical thinking and independent thought are given utmost priority, and where students and faculty alike should be given the ability to freely discuss ideas without any fear of persecution," it added.

Quezon City Representative Kit Belmonte earlier filed a bill essentially seeking to apply the provisions of the UP-DND Accord to all state universities and colleges in the country.

Meanwhile, Albay Representative Edcel Lagman has already filed a resolution to investigate the unilateral termination of the UP-DND Accord, which has already gathered support from the other lawmakers. — RSJ, GMA News