AU-based UP alumnus stays proud of university despite dispute with DND

A former student of the University of the Philippines-Visayas who is now based in Australia would still recommend studying at the school in face of the negative image it has been portrayed recently by security forces.

“I will still proudly recommend the UP System and its mode of education to others. I will never see the human individual, the society, and the whole world this way had it not been for the UP education and the extra-curricular activities it has offered,” shared Gereon Ardivilla, a 49-year-old Filipino-English language translator and interpreter at the South Australian Department of Human Services.

Ardivilla, who had been involved in the Sandigan para sa Mag-aaral at Sambayanan (SAMASA) student party and League of Filipino Students (LFS) while studying BA Psychology in UP Visayas Campus, had learned about the fate if the UP-Department of National Defense accord from the university’s newspaper.

“I became aware of the UP-DND accord when I read it on the Philippine Collegian after the Donato Continente incident there. We were not aware of it in UP Visayas before. Although I suspect the more senior activists during my time were aware of it. I think there were also incidents of arrests of activists in UPV campus before EDSA 1986 according to stories told by senior activists. I cannot be sure if they invoked or discussed the accord,” he added during the interview via Messenger on February 9.

So, like other Iskos and Iskas, he is affected by the one-sided cancellation.

“I am concerned about the recent abrogation of the UP-DND accord, and I fear the continued systematic assault of the Duterte administration on the people’s rights and welfare to cover up on its failed policies.”

“The way I see it, it is just a small aspect of the systematic oppression of the rights and freedoms of the people, and especially of the students by the Duterte administration and its use of fascist state terror to keep the rotten system that sustains it in power. The abrogation reveals the anti-intellectual bias of Duterte since UP is in the forefront of critical thinking and learning  – a UP tradition to whoever walks its halls.”

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana unilaterally terminated his department’s 31-year-old pact with the University of the Philippines, claiming that it has become a “safe haven for the enemies of the state."

On the other hand, the military has claimed that the UP was among the top universities in the Philippines where students are recruited by communist rebels to topple the government.

In the face of protest actions of faculty members, students, alumni, and concern groups, Secretary Lorenzana said he is thinking of reconsidering his decision. 

He said last Monday he is open to the idea of reconsidering his move to terminate the agreement with UP banning police and military forces inside campus.

Interviewed on CNN Philippines, Lorenzana said that during the meeting of UP and DND officials last Thursday, he told UP president Danilo Concepcion that he will think about withdrawing his decision.

“I told Danny Concepcion I will think about it,” Lorenzana said when asked if he is considering rethinking the termination of the agreement.

But he said he will wait first for the recommendation of the panel created to discuss the DND-UP accord issue before making a decision. —LBG, GMA News