A left-leaning youth group slammed the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) for leaving universities and security forces to “reach a consensus” on the definition of academic freedom.
The Samahan ng Progresibong Kabataan (SPARK) criticized CHEd Chairman Prospero de Vera III for allegedly including the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and Philippine National Police (PNP) in the discussion related to the abrogation of the UP-DND accord.
De Vera earlier proposed the convening of a panel of education experts to define academic freedom. However, this proposal did not sit well with SPARK noting that it was “absurd and mind-boggling” to leave the key stakeholders behind.
SPARK National Spokesperson John Lazaro questioned de Vera on “what qualifies the generals of the AFP and PNP as ‘education experts’ that justifies them having a role, a determining role at that, in defining academic freedom.”
Lazaro added that why should the AFP and PNP “be included in a discussion about academic freedom, while the real stakeholders, the students, professors, and school employees are left out of the discussion.”
SPARK expressed fear that de Vera’s reaching out to the AFP and PNP is part of the whole-of-nation approach to end communist insurgency as they continue to red-tagging universities as hotbeds of insurgents.