Manila Bulletin
NUSP disputes CHED chairperson's claim that illegal drugs are prevalent in UP Diliman
NUSP disputes CHED chairperson's claim that illegal drugs are prevalent in UP Diliman
NUSP disputes CHED chairperson's claim that illegal drugs are prevalent in UP Diliman
Published Aug 28, 2019 12:08 pm
By Chito Chavez
The militant National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP) has chided Commission on Higher Education (CHED) chairperson Prospero de Vera III for claiming illegal drugs are prevalent in some portions of the University of the Philippines (UP) in Diliman.
(National Union of Students of the Philippines logo via Facebook / MANILA BULLETIN)
NUSP stressed de Vera’s statement may be used by Senator Ronald “Bato” de la Rosa to call for yet another inquiry, this time to fish for “proof” that aside from being a fertile ground for recruitment of full-time New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas, UP Diliman has become a “sanctuary” for drug dealers selling shabu sourced from China.
“The country’s biggest alliance of student councils said that in January 1971, then-President Ferdinand Marcos also claimed that protesting UP students who fended off assaults on campus by drunken police and military were armed and had mounted ‘anti-aircraft guns’ to shoot down US hand-me-down Huey helicopters,” NUSP said.
“Of course, the Marcos claim was a lie just as de Vera could not provide any evidence that his claim would stick,’’ NUSP noted.
NUSP argued de Vera was practically lawyering for Oplan Tokhang that dela Rosa launched when he “jumped over the heads of senior PNP officials and was named by his godfather Duterte to head the PNP and implement the bloody anti-drug war that killed more than 33,000 people under “mysterious” circumstances and another 6,600 persons who were killed in clashes with the police categorized as “nanlaban” incidents.
“De Vera, a very vocal appointee of President Duterte, succumbs to desperation in order to advance his master’s interest, which is to deploy more armed and dangerous military and police at the UP campus, perhaps even in the CHED office which squats within the 552-hectare Diliman campus,” NUSP surmised.
CHED Memo 18, which was released last year, demanded that state colleges and universities (SCUs) conduct random drug tests among students to justify the entry of police forces in schools.
NUSP said the latest victims of this notorious assault on academic freedom are the students of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP), another university that the military and police had tagged as a breeding ground for NPA guerrillas and political officers of the revolutionary underground.
“SCUs face more fundamental and longstanding problems, so NUSP suggests that de Vera try to get his priorities straight and stop moonlighting as a stoolie for dutertized top police and military officials,” NUSP argued.
“For instance, he should take a tour of our campuses to personally witness the dismal state of classrooms, comfort rooms and office spaces,” NUSP said.
“In the face of impending budget cuts for SCUs with poor facilities, a CHED chief who bows faithfully to a tyrant and who dishes out irresponsible claims to support the truncated logic of Sen. Ronald de la Rosa and the psywar operators of the PNP and AFP is not what we need,” NUSP concluded.
(National Union of Students of the Philippines logo via Facebook / MANILA BULLETIN)
NUSP stressed de Vera’s statement may be used by Senator Ronald “Bato” de la Rosa to call for yet another inquiry, this time to fish for “proof” that aside from being a fertile ground for recruitment of full-time New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas, UP Diliman has become a “sanctuary” for drug dealers selling shabu sourced from China.
“The country’s biggest alliance of student councils said that in January 1971, then-President Ferdinand Marcos also claimed that protesting UP students who fended off assaults on campus by drunken police and military were armed and had mounted ‘anti-aircraft guns’ to shoot down US hand-me-down Huey helicopters,” NUSP said.
“Of course, the Marcos claim was a lie just as de Vera could not provide any evidence that his claim would stick,’’ NUSP noted.
NUSP argued de Vera was practically lawyering for Oplan Tokhang that dela Rosa launched when he “jumped over the heads of senior PNP officials and was named by his godfather Duterte to head the PNP and implement the bloody anti-drug war that killed more than 33,000 people under “mysterious” circumstances and another 6,600 persons who were killed in clashes with the police categorized as “nanlaban” incidents.
“De Vera, a very vocal appointee of President Duterte, succumbs to desperation in order to advance his master’s interest, which is to deploy more armed and dangerous military and police at the UP campus, perhaps even in the CHED office which squats within the 552-hectare Diliman campus,” NUSP surmised.
CHED Memo 18, which was released last year, demanded that state colleges and universities (SCUs) conduct random drug tests among students to justify the entry of police forces in schools.
NUSP said the latest victims of this notorious assault on academic freedom are the students of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP), another university that the military and police had tagged as a breeding ground for NPA guerrillas and political officers of the revolutionary underground.
“SCUs face more fundamental and longstanding problems, so NUSP suggests that de Vera try to get his priorities straight and stop moonlighting as a stoolie for dutertized top police and military officials,” NUSP argued.
“For instance, he should take a tour of our campuses to personally witness the dismal state of classrooms, comfort rooms and office spaces,” NUSP said.
“In the face of impending budget cuts for SCUs with poor facilities, a CHED chief who bows faithfully to a tyrant and who dishes out irresponsible claims to support the truncated logic of Sen. Ronald de la Rosa and the psywar operators of the PNP and AFP is not what we need,” NUSP concluded.