UP employee, colleague ‘illegally’ arrested inside campus —UP student regent

A University of the Philippines (UP) employee and his colleague have been “illegally” arrested for supposedly engaging in online gambling, the university’s Office of the Student Regent said Monday.

In a Facebook post, the student regent’s office denounced the arrest of UP Islamic Institute employee Jun Nario and his colleague who were allegedly caught on Sunday night "engaging in online karera (racing) while failing to observe social distancing measures."

They were allegedly arrested when “forces of the Crime Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) intruded Pook Village A last night at 7 PM.”

Although the two were eventually released “when UP lawyers intervened,” the student regent said, “the harassment and intrusion” of the police "violates the UP-DILG (Department of Interior and Local Government) agreement that remains effective to this day.” The office referred to an agreement that prohibits police from entering and conducting operations inside the campus without the knowledge and approval of the university.

"This is followed by reports of state forces posing as street vendors in UP Diliman to spy and harass members of the community,” the student regent’s office said in a statement.

It said that the incident, along with the unilateral abrogation of the UP-National Defense Department accord, "poses a serious threat to academic freedom and the safety and security of UP constituents."