Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo believes that the University of the Philippines (UP) will remain as the "citadel of freedom" and can continue to do what it has been doing for the past three decades even with the unilateral scrapping of its agreement with the Department of National Defense (DND).
Panelo made the statement after the DND terminated its three-decade agreement with UP that bars the entry of the military or the police in campuses without prior notice to the university's administration.
In a statement, Panelo said that nothing much will change with UP even if the said agreement was scrapped.
"With or without the MOA (memorandum of agreement), governments will come and go, UP remains the citadel of freedom," he said.
Panelo, a product of UP himself, said the termination of the UP-DND accord does not violate academic freedom nor the freedom of expression and of speech.
"With or without the MOA, UP has the sole authority of what courses to teach, the manner by which the same is taught. It decides who the faculty members will be," he said.
"The freedom of expression and of speech is not abridged, nor is the right to peaceably assemble prohibited. Neither does the abrogation proscribe or stop them from thinking freely on any subject," he added.
The Palace official, however, said that the accord impeded law enforcement.
"The MOA cannot supplant the Constitution and laws of the land," Panelo said.
"While parties in a contract can stipulate terms and conditions as they deem mutually acceptable, the same cannot - and must not be contrary to law, morals, good customs, public order or public policy. That legal principle is basic," he added.
"Logic dictates that giving prior notice to UP before conducting lawful operations and serving warrants impedes law enforcement," he said.
"Giving prior notice to UP before conducting lawful operations and serving warrants impedes law enforcement," he added.
On Tuesday, presidential spokesman Harry Roque, another UP alumnus, said President Duterte supports the decision of the DND to end the 1989 UP-DND accord to supposedly protect the youth from recruitment activities of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army (CPP-NPA).
Protection of children
Communications Undersecretary Lorraine Badoy agreed that the abrogation of the UP-DND accord has nothing to do with academic freedom and everything to do with the protection of youth and the defense of the country.
Badoy, who is also the spokesperson for the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), said that the agreement can be terminated at will.
"This agreement was a mere courtesy extended to UP in 1989 by the DND when we didn’t know then what we know now: that UP is indeed the center of gravity of the CPP NPA – an organization that was recently declared a terrorist organization by the Anti Terrorism Council," she said.
She added that the government will do everything to protect the youth from the CPP-NPA.
"There is no mountain we will not climb, no river we will not cross, no fire we will not go through for our children," Badoy said.
"We are no longer a people who will accept what is unacceptable. We will no longer look away as our children are eaten whole by terrorists," she added.