UP president nixes Bato's claim UP will allow gov't forces in
Published Dec 11, 2019 12:00 am
By Hanah Tabios and Merlina Hernando-Malipot
University of the Philippines (UP) President Danilo Concepcion belied Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa’s earlier claim that Concepcion agreed to allow the entry of police and military forces into all UP campuses to restrain students from joining anti-establishment groups.
Danilo L. Concepcion (up.edu.ph / Manila Bulletin)
“I categorically deny that I agreed to allow the military and police to enter any University of the Philippines campus or property without coordination with the UP administration and the UP police,” Concepcion said in a statement released Wednesday.
Dela Rosa earlier told Senate reporters that UP approved a proposal to allow government forces into university premises to stop communists from recruiting students.
This is related to the government’s alleged crackdown on the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and other legal social movements.
Concepcion said the autonomous academic institution does not consider itself above the law. “Indeed, it is keen to see the law upheld and strictly enforced, with due respect for the rights of all concerned,” he said.
He also said UP, as a national university, will “continue to cooperate fully and openly with government authorities, all in full cognizance of the balancing act between public safety and academic freedom.”
Missing minors
Last Oct. 1, Dela Rosa, a former police chief, submitted Senate Committee Report No. 10 which probed into the issue of missing minors allegedly recruited by leftist groups including the New People’s Army.
He also said policemen and soldiers may now enter the campuses of state universities and colleges (SUCs) in line with government efforts to stop the alleged recruitment of students by communists.
Last September, at the committee hearing on the issue, Concepcion said that teachers and students “cannot be penalized for what they believe in.”
He explained that UP encourages teachers and students to “express what they believe in” because “this is the essence of academic freedom…academic freedom is like blood of the university.”
Professors: ‘Junk Bato report’
On the eve of International Human Rights Day (Dec. 10), professors from different universities and representing various groups gathered in UP-Diliman to register their defense of academic freedom “against the creeping militarization of education.”
The members of the academe also urged the Senate to junk Dela Rosa's Senate Committee Report No. 10, saying the report seeks to “turn our peaceful and collegial institutions into a battlefield of counter-insurgency.”
“We sound the alarm regarding the impending death of academic freedom and the return of authoritarian control in the realm of education,” they added.
Instead of being militarized, the professors said the SUCs need “increased state support for social services, wage increases for our teachers, subsidies for facilities,” among others, to “alleviate the impoverished condition of the education sectors in the country.”
Danilo L. Concepcion (up.edu.ph / Manila Bulletin)
“I categorically deny that I agreed to allow the military and police to enter any University of the Philippines campus or property without coordination with the UP administration and the UP police,” Concepcion said in a statement released Wednesday.
Dela Rosa earlier told Senate reporters that UP approved a proposal to allow government forces into university premises to stop communists from recruiting students.
This is related to the government’s alleged crackdown on the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and other legal social movements.
Concepcion said the autonomous academic institution does not consider itself above the law. “Indeed, it is keen to see the law upheld and strictly enforced, with due respect for the rights of all concerned,” he said.
He also said UP, as a national university, will “continue to cooperate fully and openly with government authorities, all in full cognizance of the balancing act between public safety and academic freedom.”
Missing minors
Last Oct. 1, Dela Rosa, a former police chief, submitted Senate Committee Report No. 10 which probed into the issue of missing minors allegedly recruited by leftist groups including the New People’s Army.
He also said policemen and soldiers may now enter the campuses of state universities and colleges (SUCs) in line with government efforts to stop the alleged recruitment of students by communists.
Last September, at the committee hearing on the issue, Concepcion said that teachers and students “cannot be penalized for what they believe in.”
He explained that UP encourages teachers and students to “express what they believe in” because “this is the essence of academic freedom…academic freedom is like blood of the university.”
Professors: ‘Junk Bato report’
On the eve of International Human Rights Day (Dec. 10), professors from different universities and representing various groups gathered in UP-Diliman to register their defense of academic freedom “against the creeping militarization of education.”
The members of the academe also urged the Senate to junk Dela Rosa's Senate Committee Report No. 10, saying the report seeks to “turn our peaceful and collegial institutions into a battlefield of counter-insurgency.”
“We sound the alarm regarding the impending death of academic freedom and the return of authoritarian control in the realm of education,” they added.
Instead of being militarized, the professors said the SUCs need “increased state support for social services, wage increases for our teachers, subsidies for facilities,” among others, to “alleviate the impoverished condition of the education sectors in the country.”