Various youth groups and student organizations warned on Wednesday that the University of the Philippines campuses will become “hunting grounds” for the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
The groups are referring to the red-tagging activities of the police and the military which often attacks student activists critical of the drug war, pandemic response, anti-terror bill, and other controversial policies.
“The sudden, unilateral termination of the UP-DND accord is the Duterte government's new deadly strain of repression against UP's critical students, teachers, staff, and community members. It is no coincidence that the government is stripping off the protection accorded to the UP community as the dangerous Anti-Terror Act is in full swing,” the statement read.
Critics of the anti-terror law see it as a way for the administration to curtail the criticisms being thrown at President Duterte and his allies. Cases have been filed challenging the constitutionality of the Anti-Terror Act before the Supreme Court. An oral argument has already been set.
In the statement, the groups said that “campuses should be a safe space for students and the community from recruitment into acts of war by repressive state forces and non-state groups.”
They urged the UP administration “to mobilize chancellors and deans in the different campuses to defy this "encroachment and uphold the principles of academic freedom, safety, and security in our campuses.”
The groups also called on the public to resist the government’s oppression and fight for academic freedom.
On Monday, a copy of the letter sent by Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana to UP President Danilo Concepcion was posted on social media.
In the letter, Lorenzana said that the termination of the accord was meant to protect UP and its community from the recruitment activities of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA).
The groups questioned Lorenzana’s statement that it wants to protect the students from nefarious activities by communist movements, adding that the “damning record” of human rights abuses committed during the current regime “betrays their sorry attempt to instill trust with the academic community.”
The groups, composed of Bahaghari, Ateneo Mathematics Society, True Colors Coalition, Kalikha, Tanghalang Ateneo, Liberal Youth, Akbayan Youth, Project Laan, LETS CDC, and Panay, among others, used the hashtags #DefendUP, #NoToCampusMilitarization, and #JunkTerrorLaw.