House OKs bill institutionalizing UP-DND accord cnnphilippines.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from cnnphilippines.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 25) - Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said his office will only issue a legal opinion on the abrogation of the 1989 University of the Philippines-Department of National Defense Accord if requested.
“The SOJ, as attorney general, does not issue legal opinions or commence administrative adjudication proceedings unless requested by heads of government agencies or other states instrumentalities,” he told reporters in a text message.
Considering that there is an “apparent dispute” between UP and the DND on the termination of their pact, Guevarra added that the DOJ will view any request for legal opinion as a request for administrative adjudication under the Revised Administrative Code.
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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 21) - Following the unilateral abrogation of the 1989 University of the Philippines-Department of National Defense Accord, a bill was filed at the lower chamber that seeks to institutionalize state universities as freedom spaces.
Quezon City Rep. Christopher Belmonte filed House Bill No. 8443 or the Academic Freedom Act of 2021. The bill aims to declare schools and state universities and colleges as freedom spaces where academic freedom is guaranteed. The bill also recognizes that SUCs can exercise their full acts of ownership over their property, the bill stated.
The measure would only allow uniformed personnel to enter campuses in cases of hot pursuit and similar occasions of emergency. They are not allowed to conduct operations inside without coordination with school administration.
"DND, in its letter, has failed to show any overriding public interest to interfere with UP’s academic freedom. It did not show any clear and present danger which can limit a student or a professor’s civil liberty to freely think and express his or her view."